


The Chronicles of Fat Eren Jaeger

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Armin and Mikasa are models, Eren works at publishing, Hanji is a woman, Levi is a stud here, M/M, My shitty attempt at comedy, Slow Build, explicit at later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-20 17:04:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6017748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After finding out Reiner cheated on him with this fit hunk, Eren makes it his top priority to get fit to show his ex-boyfriend what he’s missing. That was the plan, ya know, until he fell in love with his personal trainer </p><p>Levi loves sex, and he loves hot people. It makes sense, because he’s hot as well, but as his manager gets enough of the millionth time Levi sleeps with his client—Levi has to prove to Erwin he is actually good at his job. So here he is, trying to get this fat kid to lose weight so he won’t get fired. </p><p>Until fat kid Eren turns out to be everything Levi wanted and more.</p><p>---<br/>Saga 1: The Adventures of Losing Weight and Falling in Love<br/>Saga 2: (to be revealed after Saga 1)<br/>Saga 3: (to be revealed after Saga 2)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Saga One: Adventures of Losing Weight and Falling in Love: Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO WELCOME TO THIS BOOK
> 
> Little warnings here and there:   
> 1\. Eren will view himself as fat, but he is actually not bad. He's just chubby. He views himself as fat.  
> 2\. Levi will be offensive. Not just like cussing people out but there will be times he will act like a douche, so beware of that.  
> 3\. YOU MAY GET FEELS (I HOPE YOU GET FEELS OR I HAVE FAILED AS A WRITER)

The first thing Eren noticed was that his house smelled like flowers. Flowers. Roses to be exact. Reiner hates flowers, especially roses. He says it reminds him of the idealistic princess world or whatever the fucking reason it. Anyways, Eren loves flowers. Especially roses. He loves how it symbolizes love and that Eren is a really idealistic guy. He also loved princesses.

            Maybe Reiner is finally celebrating this year’s Valentine’s Day. Eren’s boyfriend hates corporate holidays and how they’re over exaggerated so companies can make money. But Eren loves Valentine’s Day. Even if Reiner doesn’t celebrate it, Eren celebrates it with his best friends, Armin and Mikasa. He loves the concept of love.

            But he places his work bag down, following the trail of rose petals. He agreed to work on Valentine’s Day because Reiner is as well. He’s eating dinner tonight with Mikasa and Armin, but his publishing company’s manager decided to close off early so here is Eren, in his apartment at noon, with the smell of roses.

            Eren can’t stop himself from grinning. He sees rose petals on the wooden floor of his shared loft, trailing into the hallway and finally stops before a shut door. Did Reiner plan all of this for him? Is it possible he called Eren’s boss to leave early (now, Eren knows that’s too idealistic but what other possible way could happen?)

            So Eren is grinning, tugging off his jacket as he tip toes to his and Reiner’s bedroom. He’s anticipating what’s behind that door (probably Reiner in some sex position, his muscles bulging proudly or maybe they’re gifts.)

            Eren softly squeals to himself and paces around—he doesn’t really want to barge in yet and open the door. He’s too excited. But Eren forced himself to get over it as he barged the door open.           

            “Reiner, I can’t believe—,” Eren stops because he literally _cannot believe what he’s looking at._

            His boyfriend. His boyfriend of four years. His boyfriend from senior year of high school when Eren was toned and popular. His boyfriend who promised to always love him even when he’s gaining weight, too depressed to really shed it off. His boyfriend is sleeping with another man.

            Right now, sleeping in the most innocent way possible. Reiner has his back faced to Eren, his blonde hair tousled as Eren could properly see him spooning a much taller man then him. He’s fit, isn’t as fit as Reiner, but more toned then Eren. He’s taller than Eren. His hair is darker than Eren’s. 

            The little bastard jumps up at Eren’s voice, head whipping around and looking at Eren as though he’s a demon summoned from another dimension. To be quite fucking honest, Eren is about to act like he’s a goddamn demon.

            “You…” Eren trails off. The other man, that other bitch, turns his head sleepily, one hand rubbing his eye as the other is stretched over his head.

            “Oh, hello,” He softly speaks. It sound so surreal in this situation, “Are you the maid Reiner tells me about? The one who lives here as well?”

            “THE MAID!” Eren screeches. He accidently bit his cheek but could care less as he stares at Reiner with the most deadliest look he could muster. He sure as hell wished looks could kill. But underneath it all, Eren felt his idealistic heart break. In two separate pieces, falling away from one another.

            Reiner turned into a fish. His mouth is gaping and he doesn’t know what to do with his hands as they move around awkwardly, “I—I…baby, I’m sorry.”

            “No!” Eren seethes. He has such an urge to grab the nearest lamp and chuck it towards Reiner, “You do not get to apologize. Get out!”

            The other man frowns at Eren quizzically, “Reiner. What’s going on?”

            Eren wants to throw a lamp at him too, “What do you think is going on, you dumb cow-donkey hybrid!” He turns his attention to Reiner again, “You chose a good one, Reiner. If you were going to cheat on me you might as well choose someone smart!”

            The other man laughs, in such a degrading way Eren is so close to attacking him. “Reiner, you’re dating this chubby loser?”

            Eren is dumbfounded, staring at the man. People like him exist. For a moment, it’s quiet. Reiner is looking between the other man and Eren, but Eren doesn’t acknowledge him. Instead, he slowly starts to glare at that dumb bitch, “Excuse me!? Do you not have any self respect? You just ruined a relationship!”

            The other man scoffs. He’s getting up, grabbing his pants and his tee shirt, “Go eat a donut, fatty.”

            “I will sit on you and crush you, you fucker!” Eren screams, “Get out!”

            The other bitch rolls his eyes. He struts over to Reiner and _kisses him in front of Eren_. Eren himself just turned numb, eyes glossy as he realizes his boyfriend just cheated on him.

            “You should’ve been honest with me, Reiner.” He whispered, “I would’ve understood. When all of this is over, come to my place.”

            Jesus fucking— “GET OUT!”

            The taller, thinner, darker haired man rolls his eyes and walks out, shutting the door to the impending silence. Eren then switches his attention to Reiner again, the blonde buffoon is staring at his own feet and Eren just realized he’s bloody naked.

            “Well,” Eren whispers, “At least you have some shame.”

            “Eren—,”

            Eren put up a finger, a finger probably chubbier than the other man. “Just tell me why. Get it all out so I can have my closure and forget I wasted four years of my life with a fitness freak and hater of all things lovable.” Eren takes a deep breath, “Now that I think about it, you two will be great together. Just do the world a favor and don’t have children.”

            Reiner lets out a sigh as he peers at Eren, “You…you didn’t—.”

            “Don’t sugarcoat it.”

            “You aren’t what I wanted anymore.” Reiner finally pushes out. Eren feels his throat clog up at the words. “When I first fell in love with you, you were Eren Jaeger. The class clown from high school who’s the football captain. You were hot and beautiful and glorious, and you were carefree. Now…now—,”

            “Now I gained twenty pounds and am no longer your ‘hot’ and ‘glorious’ Eren Jaeger.” Eren finishes. He tastes salt and realizes there are tears streaming down his cheeks. “Well, then.”

            His voice cracks and at that Reiner looks up. He still refuses to meet Eren’s eyes. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

            “You aren’t even sorry you cheated!” Eren screams, “You’re sorry I didn’t find out the right way. What the hell are you thinking, huh!? Throw a party!? Will you write it on a cake—because that will literally sugarcoat things because I’m fat and I _love_ cake!”

            Reiner looks at him with sad eyes, “Eren…”

            “Don’t” Eren seethes again, “Did you love him?” He thinks of the roses. The way Reiner went out of his way for his lovemaking with that guy—Bert, or whatever—and how he never did that for Eren. Ever. So Eren knows the answer, but he needs to hear it.

            It was quiet for quite some time. Until Reiner finally mans up, “I do. I still do.”

            “More than me…” Eren finishes for him.

            Reiner doesn’t deny it.

            _I won’t cry_. Eren angrily wipes way the tears at the corner of his eyes. He opens the door of their bedroom—their bedroom that they have cuddled in, made love in, shared memories in—and stomped away.

            Once Eren reached the living room, he turns around to see Reiner following him. His boyfriend—ex-boyfriend—is gnawing on his lower lip. Reiner still refuses to meet Eren’s eyes.

            “Is it because I’m fat.” Eren asks. His voice is so soft and fragile, “Is it because I’m not hot and beautiful anymore.”

            Reiner then looks up, meeting Eren’s eyes, “No, Eren..it’s…it’s…” Eren watches him visibly swallow. He doesn’t continue.

            It’s taking everything in Eren’s power not to scream and cry and throw a pipe at Reiner. The brunette just shakily takes a breath, “Get out.”

            “Eren…”

            “No, you’re getting out! I don’t care if you regret it or whatever.”

            “No, Eren, I’m paying for the rent.” Reiner whispered, “You should get out.”

            Eren looks at him in the eye, “You’re a sick fuck with no shame.” He whispers.

            And with that, takes out his phone and calls Mikasa.

 

* * *

 

 

It has to be the worst Valentine’s Day in the history of Valentine’s Day. Because all the previous Valentine’s Days with Reiner have been pretty ordinary, and the ones before he started to date Reiner were filled with women who would fawn over Eren. Because at one point, Eren was hot. But this is the first Valentine’s Day where he’s heartbroken, single, and crying at the back of Mikasa’s car as she’s inside his old loft, Armin trying to drag her back from attacking Reiner. It was silent for quite a while. Eren could hear Mikasa’s yells and Armin’s distressed yells. He could hear Reiner’s bullshitting voice and his excuses (and pleas to not make Mikasa hurt him too badly. Wimp.)

            Finally, Eren hears the car doors open and Mikasa and Armin slid into the front. Mikasa is at the passenger seat, positively fuming, so Armin took it upon himself to drive. Eren’s blonde friend is the only sane one around here.

            “Don’t fucking cry over him, Eren,” Mikasa yells, “That fucker is worth nothing. I never liked him, you know that? He was always so goddamn annoying and won’t shut up about corporate holidays and how idealistic views suck. And his abs. The only things he can ever talk about!”

            Eren just sobs and Mikasa quiets down. It was like that for a while. Armin is driving Mikasa’s Lexus smoothly. Eren is crying and sniffling, the afternoon sun shining at him through the window. He doesn’t know how long it’s been like this until Armin stops the car. Eren looks out the window to see his favorite pizza place in all of it’s glory.

            “Why,” Eren sniffles, “Why are we here?”

            Mikasa turns around and smiles at him from the passenger seat. Meanwhile, Armin steps out of the car, “Comfort food.”

            Eren frowns, “Mikasa, I’m a mess right now. The last thing I want is for people to see me.”

            Mikasa flicks her wrist, “Armin ordered pizza right when you called us. We aren’t going inside.”

            “Oh.”

            “So, what happened?” Mikasa whispers, “You never told me the reason behind your breakup.”

            Eren stays quiet. Armin saves him from explaining as he enters, a nice big pizza box in his hand. The beautiful scent of pizza makes Eren smile a little bit.

            “Now,” Armin starts the car, “Off to the Fortress of Solitude. Aka, our apartment. And Eren’s new apartment,”

 

Mikasa and Armin are beautiful. They’re both models and they’ve been Eren’s best friends since diaper days. They aren’t dating, Armin prefers sausage over tacos, but ever since the senior year of high school—Armin, Mikasa, and Eren decided to live together. Until Reiner came along, that is.

            It overwhelms Eren as he steps into their beautiful apartment. Armin is running around, getting plates, while Mikasa is putting on Eren’s favorite movie: The Lion King. He watches them sprint around the house, their skinny bodies are being highlighted to the max. Eren remembers being that fit. He remembers being that…pretty.

            “Okay!” Mikasa grins. The flat screen TV blares as the old Disney film logo comes on, “C’mon, Eren! Sit down!”

            Eren frowns but he does so. He wedges in between Armin and Mikasa, but his heart squeezes as both of them scoot so Eren can actually fit. He looks down at his thighs. He isn’t obese, the doctor told him that all the time, he’s just overweight. But he feels obese.

            Armin gives Eren his plate of pizza. It’s Eren’s favorite, deep dish pizza with cheese filled crust. On top of it is jalapeños, banana peppers, mushrooms and olives. Eren loves pizza with his entire life. His entire being. Especially when he started to gain weight.

            But Eren frowns, pushes the plate away. It seemed like a simple motion to him but as he looks at his best friends, they stare at him as though grew a second head.

            “Eren.” Armin whispers, “You’re not going to eat your pizza?”

            Eren looks to the other side to see Mikasa. She frowns at him, “You love this pizza,” She says.

            Eren just awkwardly shrugs. His eyes are trained on the TV but his mind is filled with the images of Reiner and Bert. How Reiner stopped loving him because Eren was too fat, because Eren was no longer Eren.

            That’s what Eren wants. The screen goes black as he sees that Armin turned off the TV, and Eren sees his reflection. He sees himself staring at his chubby cheeks and slight doubly chin. But like a joke, his brain creates the old Eren right beside him. The Eren with a sharp jawline and cheeks flat enough to show his cheekbones.

            “Guys…” Eren whispers, “I need to be my old self again.”

            “Eren—,” Mikasa starts.

            “Before you say anything, it’s not for him.” Eren whispers, “It’s for me. I need this. More than ever.”

            Eren looks to his other side to see Armin. His best friend has his eyebrows drawn together, looking like a unibrow over his huge blue eyes. Armin then meets his gaze, “What are you thinking?”

            “I’m going to lose weight.” Eren whispers, “I’m determined.”

 

* * *

 

 

Levi has heard many names being called at him. All from atrocious to zealous, but never a teddy bear. Never a teddy bear. Levi is staring down at the woman on the bed. She has the sheets pulled up to cover her chest (which seems useless considering Levi saw it all. No point, honey.) and she’s staring Levi with the most sadness he ever saw.

            “I know people like you are hurting,” She whispers, “And that the only way you go through it is by acting like this.” She then smiles at him. “I’ll be here for you. You don’t need to put up your act in front of me.”

            Levi blinks at her. He’s halfway through with dressing himself, pants on but shirt bunched up around his neck like an awkward scarf. He then starts to laugh and pulls his shirt down, covering his glorious abs.

            The woman frowns, “Levi?”

            “Honey,” Levi says, he’s still chuckling, “Believe whatever you want.”

            He turns around, looking at himself at the mirror. His jet black hair is all tousled from the wild sex, but his face is looking glorious as ever. Jawling sharp, nose straight, cheekbones carved from the gods. Even naturally given seductive eyes.

            He’s a gift. He knows it.

            He hears the woman shriek from behind him. The raven rolls his eyes as he turns to look at her, “What?”

            “You!” She yells. “You tricked me!”

            “I didn’t trick you. I asked if you wanted to have sex and you said yes.”

            “B—but I thought you loved me! You made a move on me on Valentines Day!” She yells, “I thought you were distressed and full of remorse or whatever and you needed some love!”

            “Why?” Levi asks, “Why would you think that? I’m not Christian Grey. I’m not any bad boy from your typical fan fic. I’m hot, I love sex, and that’s the end of that.”

            It seems simple to Levi but the woman just continues to yell and now she’s throwing things. Levi awkwardly jumps out of the way as she threw a lamp, watching it crash against the wall, “Holy fuck, woman.”

            “I can’t believe I let you in to my sacred temple!” She sobs.

            “I can’t believe I had sex with a crazy bitch,” Levi mutters. He’s getting pretty annoyed right now, and the woman’s constant whining isn’t making it better. It went on like that for quite a while. The woman is sobbing and Levi is waddling around her room to look for his shoes. It was quite funny, as he looked at the clock, half past six.

            “Why would you do this to me!?” She cries again.

            Levi leans back up (he was currently checking under the bed for his Nikes) and gave the woman an incredulous look, “You agreed to it. I didn’t rape you.” Levi frowns at the mere thought of it.

            “You broke my heart!” She screamed, “It’s the same thing!”

            “How in the ever loving fuck is a broken heart and a traumatized, rape victim the same thing!?” Levi snaps, “You’re just a privileged bitch.”

            With that, Levi grabs his other Nike shoe and puts it on. The woman is crying viciously again, slamming her fists down on the bed as she throws a mini tantrum. Levi sure knows how to pick them.

            But before he steps out of his bedroom, Levi turns around, “Oh, hey…”

            She sniffles but looks up, and Levi takes in her long, curly red hair and brown eyes. He takes in her hot body even more, though, but she looks at him hopefully. Poor girl. “Are you coming tomorrow? It’s leg day.”

            Levi ducks out before the lamp hits his head.

 

Levi lives with his old friend Hanji. They’ve been friends since the crazy bitch cracked Levi’s walls back in eighth grade. Fourteen year old Hanji was impressed by Levi’s black nails and black on black clothing (goth phase, don’t judge him) and fourteen year old Levi was impressed that Hanji could laugh at all of his death threats. To the other classmates, Hanji was basically a lion tamer.

            But it was a start of a blooming friendship. Yet, soon, friendship turned to mother and son because Hanji finds it her sole purpose to boss Levi around. Like right now, for example.          

            “Levi, that’s so cruel!” Hanji exclaims.

            They’re eating Chinese takeout and watching Orange is the New Black. Levi is watching for the slight lesbian porn, Hanji is watching it seriously. But that’s always their Friday nights. It’s been a ritual.

            The raven haired man stabs at his orange chicken with his one chopstick. “I’ve done this thousands of times, Hanji, what makes now different from any other time?”

            “You can’t expect me to just go numb to your stupid actions, Levi.” Hanji mutters with a mouth full of chow mein noodles, “I know you’re better than that but you keep on choosing this. Why?”

            “You’re my therapist now, along with being my mother?”

            “You’re giving me experience. I could put it down on my resume. ‘Became a therapist to a socially retarded twenty-one year old who loves to sleep around and has problems with sharing his feelings’.”

            “Thanks, Hanji.”

            “Anytime.”

            Levi rolls his eyes and plops another chicken in his mouth. After he chews slowly, he talks again, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

            “Holy hell, Levi, you just jinxed yourself.”

            “Did not.”

            “Yes you did! People who say that automatically jinx themselves—it’s a proven fact.”

            “Well, I’m sure it is.” Levi rolls his eyes.”

            “Don’t doubt the jinx, Levi. Right now, everything may seem stupid to you, which is natural. But soon, that woman you fucked you will probably bite you in the ass—,”

            “Already did. She’s into some freaky shit.”

            Hanji gives him a disgusted face but continues, “And who knows, you may fall in love.”

            Levi rolls his eyes once more. (To be honest, his eyes are in a continuous rolling motion whenever Hanji opens her mouth.) He gives his friend a sarcastic thumbs up as he eats more of his glorious orange chicken, “I already am in love. I love orange chicken.”

            “Mark my words, Levi.” Hanji whispers, “Mark my words.”

 

* * *

 

 

It turns out that Hanji was right. Well, for the first half of it. Levi isn’t so sure about that whole ‘falling in love’ ordeal. (Call him a senile fuck, he isn’t sure if ‘love’ is even a real thing). But when he walks into his workplace, he knew something was wrong. Levi is a fitness trainer, and he kind of had a bad habit of fucking his clients. Well, he somehow chose the hot ones. The hot ones always chose him. It seems really selfish, but for the most part, whenever he has sex with his clients, they always got the gist that he isn’t really looking for more. Most of the time, they continue things like normal (except without the sexual tension). He should’ve known that the last one, the crazy one, would try to do something drastic. That’s what crazy bitches do.

            He looks around the gym. It’s quite early in the morning, as Levi loves to practice that, getting up around the crack of dawn. The gym is fairly empty except for the trainers lounging around and a few customers filling out the treadmills. Levi loves the gym when it’s quiet, especially with the light shine of the morning sun. What a sappy, poetic thing to say—but it’s true.

            He looks to his side to see Scouting Legion Trainers symbol at the back of a jacket. Looks farther up to see Jean’s ridiculously dyed hair. The top of his head is blonde and the bottom is dark brown, almost black. Levi doesn’t know who the fuck told Jean to dye his hair in such a stupid way. Like, who hated him that much?

            “Jean.” Levi calls out, “Is something going on?”

            The other trainer turns around when he heard his name being called, but even then Jean’s eyes are on his phone. He briefly glances up to see Levi but immediately sets his gaze on his phone again, “Erwin wants you. He sounded pretty mad.”

            Fuck. “What are you doing?”

            Jean grins slyly, “I’m on Tinder. Trying to look for some hot dates.”

            “Good luck with that.” Levi mutters. And good luck Jean desperately needs.

            Levi makes his way to Erwin’s office, which is at the back of the gym right beside the pool. Awful placement, because it always smells like chlorine. That’s Erwin’s signature smell nowadays. Chlorine.

            Levi raps the door, once, twice, until he finally he hears Erwin’s voice, “Come in.”          

            And he does. The inside of Erwin’s office is pretty basic. A crescent moon shaped desk made of hard mahogany wood, the walls are plain with no windows. One wall holds shelves nailed into it and are gloriously holding up Erwin’s first place trophies.

            Erwin himself is tapping away at his laptop with his Harry Potter glasses. Levi still sees the picture of Erwin’s cat right beside the laptop. What a dork.

            “Levi.” Erwin speaks. His attention is still on his laptop though, “I heard some complaints about you.”

            With that, Erwin shut his laptop and peers at Levi as though he’s staring at his soul, “Take a seat.”

            “You don’t have to be so formal with me, Smith,” Levi mutters. He still takes a seat at one of Erwin’s fancy spinning chairs right across from him, “We’ve known each other since high school and you still talk as though you just met me.”

            Erwin rolls his eyes, “Levi, outside of the work place we are good friends but in the workplace I’m the boss and you’re my worker.”

            “Shame.” Levi rolls his eyes. (He loves to do that, rolling his eyes.)

            “So, Claire.” Erwin says, “Tell me about her.”

            Levi blinks, “Don’t know her.”

            Erwin looks exhausted all of a sudden, like he just aged ten years, “Your recent client, Levi.”

            The raven man thinks—until he finally he realizes Erwin is talking about the crazy bitch. Claire seems like such a normal name. She should’ve been named Sharkeisha the Second. “Oh, my God. She complained about me?”

            Erwin opens his mouth to speak but Levi cuts him off before he could get a word in, “Don’t listen to her! She’s insane! She talks about her vagina like a sacred temple and she throws lamps at people.”

            Erwin sighs, “Levi. She is not insane, you’re being insane right now.”

            “How the ever loving fuck am I being insane?” Levi splutters, looking at Erwin as though he said he wanted to go to Hawaii and become a dolphin, “I’m not throwing lamps at people and calling my dick the cross Jesus got nailed on.”

            Erwin looks appalled, “Levi, shut up. She didn’t say much but left an angry email saying you made love to her and then said you never loved her—,”

            “You’re saying it out loud and you still don’t think she’s crazy?”

            “—and to be cautious, I called your other clients,” Erwin continues, “And all of them say that you slept with them. All of them.”

            Levi sinks back into his seat and rolls his eyes, “You make it sound as though I slept with hundreds of people.”

            “Twenty is still not healthy in a span of a year.”

            “I think it’s great. My New Year’s resolution for this year is fifty.”

            “Holy fuck, Levi,” Erwin runs a hand down his face, “You’re one of my best friends and I care about you, but at the same time I don’t need someone so unprofessional ruining the reputation of my gym.”

            Levi suddenly whips his head towards Erwin, “What are you saying?”

            For a while, both of them have a staring contest.

            “One client,” Erwin says, “You don’t fuck them. You don’t do anything to them. You help them achieve their goal. If you can’t even do that, then you’re fired.”

            The atmosphere in the room got pretty intense. The raven man narrows his eyes but says nothing, because what can he say? He’s grateful that Erwin gave him this job to begin with. It pays so well. It’s unreasonable to call Erwin unreasonable, he’s only taking care of his business. Nevertheless, the words don’t seem any less annoying.

            “Alright.” Levi whispers, eyes looking elsewhere, eyebrows drawn together, “Whatever.”

            Erwin nods, “This is for your own good, Levi.”

            “Doubt it.”

 

When Levi returns to the front desk, Jean looks frustrated. He’s grabbing at his hair, almost tearing it out of his skull. Levi joins him, standing beside him as he sees Jean is glaring at his phone.

            “What’s going on?” Levi asks.

            “No potential babes, Levi!” Jean yells, “None! It’s infuriating how many ugly people are only using Tinder around here.”

            “Here’s a thought, Jean, we’re in a famous metro city. The hot woman are already paired with the hot men or smart men. We’re in a type of city that romance writers write about in their crappy novel.” Levi rolls his eyes, “If you live here, you’re either busy with work or already dating someone. No one has free time to really lounge around in dating sites.”

            “Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” Jean tuts. He waggles his finger, “Hot woman all over use dating sites.”

            “Then they’re crazy.” He thinks of Claire.

            “Levi, bro, stop bursting my bubble. What happened with Erwin, anyway? I thought he’d fire you.”

            Levi breathes out. He doesn’t really want to think of that, “You know my conquests?”

            Jean grins, “Yeah, they give me inspiration.”    

            “Well, Erwin found out. Now he’s making me take a serious client and make sure they reach their goal.”

            Jean whistles lowly as he looks at Levi with pity in his eyes. Levi just stares back with no emotion whatsoever. He isn’t like Jean who needs the constant sexual release—not like Jean gets any constant sexual release—but he’d be lying if he says he doesn’t do it often.

            “I’m so sorry.”

            “You’re talking as though someone I knew died.”

            “It kind of feels that way, to be honest.”

            “Shut up, shitface.”

            And with that, they go about their business. Jean is swiping his finger across the screen as he peers at profile after profile. Levi is watching the clock, ten from seven, and drinking his water. It’s kind of relaxing, in this quiet atmosphere and the only sounds are Jean’s irritating breaths.

            Then a customer walks in. Levi looks up from his constant staring at the digital clock on the desk to see a chubby kid. He looks confused, as he stares down at his phone and repeatedly glances up to see the inside of the gym. He’s a bit over chubby, nothing too obese, but Levi sees his saving grace.

            “Excuse me.” Levi calls out. “Do you need help?”

            The chubby kid looks at Levi with a sudden fear, but soon his face morphs into one of determination as he stomps forward. Jean pockets his phone and sets up a professional stance in front of the customer as Levi beckons him farther. Soon, the chubby kid is right across Levi and Jean.

            He has shaggy brown hair and the most exquisite eyes Levi has ever seen. The raven man frowns as he narrows his eyes and looks at the turquois color, only to see flecks of gold in it too. It seems as though his customer got the wrong idea and flushes, eyes looking down.

            Levi clears his throat, “How may I help you?”

            “Um, I’m here to get a membership,” He mumbles. Levi could barely hear him. What a shy kid.

            The raven nods and tries to steer him in, “What’s your goal? Like do you want to lose weight, get a six pack, et cetera…” Levi trails off, leaving with a questioning tone.

            The brunette looks up, “Um, I’d like to get a six pack.”

            Levi nods, “I can train you. With my help you could achieve your goal in three months. It’ll take intense working out, but you can do it. What’s your name?”

            “Uh, Eren Jaeger.”

            “German.” Levi notes, “Nice. So, what do you think?”

            Eren takes a deep breath and looks around the gym. After a minute or two of thinking, his eyes land on Levi again, “Can you really help me get abs in three months?”

            Levi gives Eren another look over, “Yeah. You aren’t really over weight, just chubby. I’ll have to weight you but it won’t be too hard.”

            Eren nods once more and takes a deep breath, “Then, yeah. I’d like you to train me.”

            Levi gives Eren a smile, hoping it doesn’t seem too strained. He’s honestly really annoyed but this is for his job. This Eren kid doesn’t seem too bad, anyways. And he’s a guy, Levi will definitely not have the urge to fuck him.      

            “Great. I’m Levi and welcome to the Scouting Legions Gym.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS MAKE MY DAY! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :D Tell me your thoughts about it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO HI 
> 
> HEre IS CHAPTER TWO

When Eren came back, he felt kind of giddy. He’s doing this. He’s actually doing this. After two years of being a fat loser, Eren will regain his hotness once again. He will become Eren Jaeger once again. Eren opens the door to his new apartment, the one he’s living with Mikasa and Armin. The brunette took over the guest bedroom. Luckily, he brought all of his stuff from Reiner’s loft yesterday, so he doesn’t have to go through with going back or buying a new wardrobe.

            Anyways, Eren is currently tip toeing around the apartment, trying not to wake up his best friends. After his realization that he needs to lose weight, Mikasa and Armin were one hundred percent against it. Both of them annoyed at the mere thought of it.

            Yet, Eren woke up pretty early to get a membership behind their backs. He just needs to break it to them, and, honestly, he hasn’t thought of that yet.

            Eren thinks of slowly stepping into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Maybe there is some Frootloops he can munch on before he makes a real breakfast (which also includes making noise). Man, Eren loves Frootloops with his entire life—

            “Eren, I can see you.”

            Eren freezes and slowly turns around, facing Mikasa. She’s behind the kitchen island, in her hand a green smoothie. The model is wearing a sports bra, and even though Eren can’t see down her waist, being blocked by the island, he can tell she’s wearing all active wear. Eren curses himself for forgetting Mikasa’s early morning workout schedules.

            The brunette tries to seem casual, making his expression go blank as he nods at Mikasa, “Ah, yes, I can see you too.”

            She is having none of it. Mikasa glares at Eren, “What are you coming back from?”

            Eren visibly swallows. “Uh, using the bathroom.”

            “Uh-huh,” Mikasa slowly nods, “And why were you doing your business outside the apartment, then?”

            “Well, Mika…” Damn, Eren can’t lie for shit. “My shit is so smelly I always use a restaurant to do my business. It’s so I don’t have to clean it up and suffer through the smell. It’s called being smart, Mikasa, look it up.”

            “That’s disgusting and don’t lie to me.”

            Eren breaths out, accepting defeat, “Alright. I went to the gym right around the block and signed up for a membership. I’m being trained by Levi to get abs in three months.”

            Mikasa frowns, “Eren, why? Armin and I already told you the idea is stupid. Don’t waste your time.”

            “I’m doing it for me.” Eren counters, “Mikasa, I’m talking about losing weight and getting healthy. Isn’t that what the doctor always told me? I’m overweight and need to change my diet—all that shit.”

            Mikasa sighs and takes a sip of her smoothie. Eren properly looks at it. Nothing about it seems delicious, just a thick liquid of green goo. “I feel like you’re doing this for him. To get him back in a way.”

            “No.” Eren whispers, “It’s not for him. Don’t worry.”

            But Eren knows Mikasa can’t help but worry. It’s in her blood.  It’s been in her blood since they were kids.

            “Eren, you’re perfect just the way you are.”

            “Mikasa, I’m fat—,”

            “Not fat! Chubby.” She is holding her smoothie in a threatening way, poised with a stiff arm that in any moment it’ll be sailing at Eren. The brunette looks around for a shield only to find nothing near so Eren slowly raises his arms in surrender.

            “Put down the smoothie, Mika.” Eren whispers, “It’s okay, girl. Just put it down.”

            The model rolls her eyes and slams her smoothie glass down. Eren hears Armin come into the kitchen before he could see him, the blonde is yawning and rubbing his eyes. He quite expected it, because Armin is a light sleeper and Eren and Mikasa’s conversation was anything but quiet.

            “What’s with the ruckus?” Armin asks. Eren stifles a laugh as he sees Armin’s long hair sticking up in all directions. The brunette licks the palm of his hand and smooths it down, only for Armin to flinch away in disgust from Eren’s spit.

            “Eren has a membership in Scouting Legions Gym and got himself a trainer too,” Mikasa growls.

            “Do you even hear yourself? You’re complaining about something so idiotic.”

            Armin sighs, “I get where she’s coming from, Eren. Mikasa and I aren’t against you losing weight. We just don’t want you to lose weight in hopes that you might get Reiner back.”

            Eren scoffs and looks away. It still hurts every time they mention Reiner’s name, like a knife in his heart that is being twisted at every comment about him. But Eren doesn’t disagree, because deep down, very deep down, Eren knows they’re right. They’ve never been wrong.

            “Let me do this, for my own self-esteem and confidence.” Eren mutters.

            They have nothing to say to that. Mikasa sighs and starts to drink the rest of her smoothie. It piqued Eren’s interest, “What is that, anyway?”

            Mikasa cocks an eyebrow at him and places an empty glass down, “Detox drink.”

            Eren just blinks at her, confused.

            “It’s to help lose weight, clear your skin, get your fill of vegetables and fruits. Different recipes have different results.”

            “Sounds disgusting.”

            Mikasa rolls her eyes, “Since you’re working out now, I’m going to make you a glass, too. Starting first thing tomorrow.”

            Eren smiles. That’s Mikasa’s way of an apology, not verbally saying it but acting it out. The better way of apologizing.

            “I’d love that, thank you.”

            Mikasa sighs and stomps away, grabbing her water bottle and phone.

“I’ll be going now.”

The brunette waves, “Have fun with your fancy, model gym.” Mikasa’s modeling agency provides a really good gym. It’s also to keep track of their models and to make sure they work out properly.

Mikasa rolls her eyes and walks out the door, and Eren lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding—confronting Mikasa is a difficult task.

            Armin yawns once more and opens the fridge. He pulls out left over pizza and starts eating it cold.

            Eren cocks an eyebrow at him, “You do workout, don’t you?”

            Armin rolls his eyes, “Of course I do. Today is supposed to be my off day, it’s Saturday, and tomorrow’s Mikasa’s. I was looking forward to sleeping in but, obviously, I couldn’t.”

            “Oh,” Eren says, “Well, enjoy the pizza.”

            “Want a slice?” Armin asks. He pushes the pizza box across the island, one slice still left, “You should cherish it before you start your fast-food free diet.”

            Eren blinks, “Man, I forgot about that. Should I do some extensive dieting?”         

            “No,” Armin shakes his head, gnawing at the cheese, “That won’t do anything, well, healthy. But since you’re trying to lose weight, it makes sense to diet at the beginning.”

            Eren awkwardly shrugs. He never had to ‘lose weight’ before. He wonders how it goes. And so, the brunette takes a slice of pizza from the box. He heats it, unlike Armin, Eren never really had a knack for cold pizza. Soon, he starts munching on the cheesy goodness. Since he refused to eat a bite last night, Mikasa and Armin ate most of it. Eren wished he could turn back time and eat it all now. Eren loves pizza with his entire life.

            “Who’s your trainer?” Armin asks.

            “Oh, Levi.” Eren frowns. He didn’t get his last name.

            “Levi,” Armin muses, nibbling on the crust, “He works in Scouting Legions Gym, right?”

            “Obviously,” Eren looks at Armin at the corner of his eye. Mikasa just said Eren signed up there. Armin usually does not ask stupid questions, but something must be crossing his mind, “What’s up?”

            Armin shrugs, his long blonde hair covering his eyes, “Once I thought I saw Steve Rogers there.”

            “Captain America?”

            “Yeah,” Armin confirms, “But it’s not Steve Rogers. It’s a man named Erwin who owns the gym.”

            Eren starts choking on his pizza as he laughs. Of course, of fucking course Armin would get excited thinking he saw Steve Rogers, which ends up being just a doppelganger.

            Armin pouts, “Shut up. I got really excited.”

            “Well, I suggest you should still meet up with him and take a picture, then lie saying you met Steve Rogers.”

            “Man,” Armin sighs, “I love Steve Rogers. He could do me any day.”

            “Shut up, Armin, you’re sounding like a bitch in heat.”

 

* * *

 

Eren wished he could say he got over Reiner pretty quickly. It was easy to forget him whenever he’s around Armin and Mikasa, both of his friends always bantering and bickering that Eren always has such a good time. But they can’t always be there. Eren knew that at the back of his mind, but now, as they both look at Eren with pursed lips, about to leave for their photoshoot, Eren is stopping himself from pleading them to stay. It’s quite expected, Mikasa and Armin are quite popular in the Chicago district. They both have contradicting features meant for different situations. Armin is cute and warm and has such a bright smile. His big, blue eyes and soft blonde locks give him an angelic look. Mikasa is sultry and sexy and dominate, with short jet black hair, steely eyes and amazing bone structure. When Eren walks around in malls or generally around the city, Eren would see Armin’s picture. He’s wearing soft cotton sweaters with ripped jeans, a comfy scarf around his neck as he smiles against the snow background. Eren would see Mikasa in a different banner, wearing a dark trench coat as her eyes are smokey eyed, heeled ankle boots with a rich dress shirt, looking like a million bucks.

            It also accurately describes their personalities. Because Mikasa is about to yell at her agent that she’s staying in today, and Armin is quietly asking his if there’s another time he could come in: _my best friend needs me._

            Eren got pissed at the both of them, “You don’t have to baby me! I’ll be fine!’

            Mikasa frowns at him, “I don’t know, Eren. Are you sure?”

            “Yes!”

            “Eren, it’s a four year relationship. You’ll be—,”

            “Just go, alright? It’s Saturday, I don’t have work. If anything, I’ll work on my novel.”

            Oh yeah, Eren works under a publishing company. He also is working on a novel. The phrase ‘I’ll work on my novel’ has practically been Eren’s catch phrase because he’s been saying that for the past two years. So Mikasa and Armin look at him doubtfully, and Eren is hoping they’d yell at him (that’s what they do whenever Eren is acting stubborn), but Mikasa nods and confirms with her agent. Armin does the same after a moment of studying the brunette.

            So here they are, Mikasa is explaining where everything is in the house if Eren needs anything. Armin is on the phone with his agent, trying to get the address. Eren is just zoned out, staring at the blooming pimple in between Mikasa’s eyebrows. He knows by tomorrow it’ll be gone, but at the same time it looks amusing that his perfect model best friend has flaws. Armin too, with those dark bags under his eyes from being woken up too early.

            “Okay,” Mikasa finally says, catching Eren’s attention, “We’ll be leaving now.”

            Eren nods and gestures for them to leave, “Go, you’re going to be late.”

            “I’m never late,” Mikasa snaps, “Everyone else is too early.”

            “Did you just quote Princess Diaries?”

            “What if I did?”

            “I’d call you a huge dork and that I love that movie.”

            Armin comes forward and gives Eren a hug, “Call us if you ever need to, okay?”

            Eren rolls his eyes with faux annoyance and smiles at his best friends, “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m Eren, remember, hard headed and all that shit.”

            They look doubtful, but they don’t say anything. So they’re out the door—Armin giving him another hug and Mikasa kissing the top of his head—and Eren shuts it behind them. He takes a deep breath and smiles. It’s great, he’s alone and he could do whatever. He should probably write more of his novel, though. But first, TV.

            Eren gets himself settled into the couch, browsing the movie titles on Netflix until he Catching Fire catches his eye. The brunette grins, his excitement overwhelming him as he screams, “Reiner! Catching Fire is on Netlflix!”

            No answer.

            “Rei—,”

            Oh. Wait.

            Eren falters, a pang in his chest so deep that it ripples into the rest of his body. Eren purses his lips and puts on the movie. Reiner is gone. He needs to remember that. He’s gone.

            And so, Eren sits back as he watches the movie, but then, another movie plays in his head. His first meeting with Reiner. His first date. First kiss together. First time. _Reiner, Reiner, Reiner._

            Before long, Eren is crying and sniffling and the tears are suffocating. The movie is forgotten as each memory resurfaces and pricks his heart, all four years of love violently thrashing around in his body because it’s dying. Because his love for Reiner is dying and though it’s needed, it hurts so much. Too much.

            Eren dials his phone, hearing the other person pick up.

            “Hello?”

            He just sobs. It’s Mikasa. He accidentally called Mikasa. Maybe it wasn’t accidental, maybe he knew that this was the best.

            “Mika.” Eren sniffles, “Don’t leave me alone.”

            “Oh, Eren,” Mikasa’s voice is soft and nurturing. “I’ll never leave you alone, baby, never. Armin and I are turning back. We’re coming back. We aren’t leaving.”

            Eren really wishes he could believe that.

 

* * *

 

 

“I thought I was okay,” Eren confesses, “I really did.”

            They’re on the floor of their living room, ice cream cartons out and open, spoons in every single one of them. It’s quiet, the blinds drawn in as Eren really doesn’t need sunlight when he’s upset. He’s stabbing half-heartedly at one of the ice cream cartons. It’s Oreo, Eren’s favorite, but his mind is too occupied to truly enjoy it.

            Armin and Mikasa are at either side of him. Armin has his plain chocolate while Mikasa has her red velvet cake ice cream. They’re minds are also too occupied to truly enjoy it.

            Armin just sighs and wraps an arm around Eren’s shoulders. Mikasa just leans into him from the other side. They don’t say anything. They don’t have to.

            “My life is turning into shit, guys.”

            They all simultaneously take a bite of ice cream to prevent themselves from saying anything more. Eren is gnawing at an Oreo cookie bit as he talks again, “Will I die alone?”

            “No,” Mikasa immediately snaps. “We’ll be right here.”

            “Yeah, here with your husbands you have to pay attention too,” Eren mutters bitterly.

            “Don’t think like that, Eren.” Armin says, “You’re a catch. Any guy will be lucky to have you.”

            Eren doesn’t say anything. Armin is feeling guilty that he snapped at him.

            The blonde sighs, “Eren, life works in funny ways. Sometimes, things have to fall apart for it to come together again. To come together better. It’s going to hurt, I know, but Mikasa and I will be here.”

            “I’d rather give up love and become a cat woman.”

            Mikasa lightly hits him with the back of her hand, “Shut up. You hate cats.”

            “Okay then, a dog woman.”

            “You’re not even a woman!”

            “You’ll find someone better, Eren.” Armin whispers, “You’ll fall in love and it’ll be great and you’ll think of this moment and laugh. You’ll laugh and we’ll laugh with you and everything will be okay.”

            “We found love in a hopeless place,” Eren sings, grinning at the reference, “I love Rihanna.”

            Mikasa gives him a side glance and puts on an annoyed expression. But Eren’s bright smile could make anyone smile, so her lips slightly quirk up. “He’s right, you know.”

            “If I could tell the future,” Armin dramatically says, his voice dropping several octaves as he holds his hands up, eyes unfocused as he stares up at a random spot in the air. Both Eren and Mikasa frown at him, “Eren, you will fall in love soon. Tomorrow. Maybe you’ll meet someone in your gym.”

            “No one goes to the gym to fall in love, Armin,” Eren chuckles. Armin is such a goofy blonde, but he thinks of it though. Going to the gym, seeing another man probably working out. They talk, exchange numbers. Soon dates, then they’re dating. Eren’s type, like Armin, is a tall blonde. He can’t see himself falling for anything but a tall blonde.

            “Yeah, well coffee shops were originally meant for serving coffee, not being the standard setting for romance novels.” Armin grins, “We just have to make the most of the situation. Things are never _meant_ to be. They just be. That’s the beauty of life, that not everything is explained with a scientific theory or has a clear reasoning behind it. It just _is_. And I don’t know about you, but that has to be the most amazing thing of being human.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eren hasn’t properly worked out in two years. He didn’t think it’d be such a big deal, or that it’d be so hard. He’s been in sports teams since he learned how to walk—all from soccer to football to even golf. So he expected it’d be the same when he last ran properly, a mile in five minutes.

            But now he can’t even run for five minutes straight. He’s panting and wheezing and taking so many breaks. And Eren could feel Levi’s eyes at the back of his neck, judging him and glaring at him. What type of trainer is he?

            “How about you start off slow.” Levi comments. He comes forward and turns off the treadmill. Eren has his feet placed at either side of the moving trail, catching his breath. He watches it slow to a stop and then looks up, wiping off the sweat from his forehead. Don’t get him wrong, he hasn’t only ran five minutes. Eren has been running for half an hour, each time Levi is trying to get him to run five minutes straight _at the least_. Eren, being a little determined bitch, tried to sprint those five minutes. Then run. Then he’s so tired that even jogging isn’t working. He needs an actual break for his legs and wheezing lungs.

            “How about I take a break?” Eren asks, “I’ve been at this forever.”

            Levi’s left eye twitches, “It’s been half an hour and you’ve been doing nothing but taking breaks. You’re not getting a proper break until you run for five minutes straight.”

            “God,” Eren whines. He leans forward and presses his forehead against the tiny TV the treadmill contains, “You’re so ruthless. Why? _Whyyy_?”

            “I’m helping you achieve your goal. I told you getting a six pack in three months will take intense training.”

            “I’m dying here.”

            “I don’t care.” Levi snaps, “We are going to try once again. Five minutes straight. Start as slow as you need, but you just don’t quit.”

            Eren takes in a deep breath and nods. Levi’s right. He can’t quit. Not now, since he already embarrassed himself and looks like a sweaty walrus. Literally, though. Eren came to this wearing a loose shirt and loose basketball shorts. Levi, well, Levi is looking like he’s coming off of a Nike catalog magazine. He’s wearing the entire brand, from those Nike sweat pants to those tight Nike shirts, showing off his abs and muscles. Even his shoes are the classy black and white Nikes. He’s a walking advertisement for the sports brand, Eren wonders if he has an obsession.

            Levi waits for Eren to drink more water then he starts the treadmill again. This time, the speed is quite lower than jogging and Eren is dying but he tries to distract his mind from the pain, hoping that would work. It did, for a bit, and Eren is sure he’ll start crying soon.

            “Next time, bring music.” Levi says, “Make a playlist that will motivate you. I always bring rock or something like that, something that makes me angry.” Levi shrugs, “Just a suggestion to help.”

            Eren wants to scream that he knows. He knows bringing a playlist will help, he _knows_. He did work out in a gym before. He wore tight sport brand shirts before. He was once Levi, even though he was probably skinnier with less muscle, he was fit.      

            Eren slams the emergency stop button on the treadmill. He trudges off and Levi is too shocked by the sudden anger to react fast enough. It wasn’t until he was about to leave the cardio room that Levi is running after him.

            “Hey, hey,” He stops in front of Eren, hands up to prevent the brunette from moving any further. Eren refuses to meet his gaze and is angrily glaring at the wall right beside them. He also has his arms crossed in a defensive manner. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

            Eren clenches his fist then unclenches them, until he finally yells, “It’s hard, Levi!”

            The raven doesn’t flinch from the yell. Luckily, it’s early morning and no one is here to see this scene, “What are you talking about? The running, the sweating, the breathing, what is hard!?”

            “Everything!” Eren yells, “I was fit once, you know? I could run a mile in five minutes. But now—now I can’t even run for five minutes. It’s all hard. And my lungs hurt, and my legs hurt, and everything hurts!”

            Levi stays quiet through Eren’s out lash. He just stands there and listens, watches Eren slowly calm himself down with deep breaths. Soon, his cheeks are red from embarrassment and he glances up at the raven from underneath his long lashes, “I’m sorry,” He whispers.

            “Don’t be.” Levi says, “And it’s normal. Eren, I weighed you and it’s not going to be difficult to lose the weight. The first day will always be the toughest, especially since your body went through a sudden change of being fit to immediately gaining weight. How many did you gain, again?”

            “Twenty pounds,” Eren whispers.

            “That’s not bad.” Levi whispers back. He wonders where this tone of voice is coming from. He’s usually tough with his clients if they’re acting like this. But Eren…Eren went through something. “I helped people who gained one hundred pounds achieve their goal. You will too. You’re going to lose weight the healthiest way, though, so don’t expect immediate results.”

            “If it’s okay than why am I…” Eren takes a breath and opens his eyes, meeting Levi’s gaze. They’re red rimmed, “Why do I look so fat?”

            “You’re not fat, Eren,” Levi muses, “It’s your body shape. Tell me, when you were fit did you still have thick thighs and ass?”   

            Eren awkwardly shrugs, “Yeah.”

            “Pear body shape.” Levi informs, “It’s hard to lose fat in those areas. I know right now, everything seems hopeless, but I will help you. You have to trust me. And yes, it will be hard, especially at first, but once you get into it—it will be a breeze.”

            Eren takes a deep breath and nods, “Yeah, okay. Thank you.”

            Levi just smiles, quite awkwardly (He isn’t used to smiling much) and nods back, “Of course. Anytime.”

            Eren just purses his lips and slowly walks back to the treadmill. But Levi calls at him to stop, “You don’t have to continue if you aren’t comfortable. We could start again tomorrow or whatever.”

            Levi, looking at the back of Eren’s head, sees him shake it. The brunette then looks back to say, “You told me not to quit. So I won’t.”

            Levi blinks and immediately looks elsewhere, hiding the small smile, “Very well, then. Let’s continue.”

 

* * *

 

 

Hot showers are a safe haven. A beautiful, beautiful safe haven that Eren would love to live in forever. Even when his skin is all old and wrinkled, Eren would just stay in hot water until the last of his days. It’s a great way to die, honestly.   

            Scouting Legion’s showers only have a small curtain to hide Eren’s dignity. There are cubicles, half the size of Eren’s bathtub, but it’s the perfect size to just stand while water pours from overhead. He’s humming to himself as he runs his hands through his hair, a tune familiar and warm. The silence was nice and relaxing.

            It wasn’t until he turned off the showers, drawing back the curtains, when he is face to face with another man. Eren shrieks, roughly dragging curtain over himself to hide his manhood as he stares at a scrawny, muscled bald guy. He has a light buzz of hair over his head, looking at Eren as though he has grown another head. Also, he’s fully clothed, wearing what Eren thinks is a douche tank top, the sides of it completely cut off.

            “Wow,” He whispers, “Jean is right. You’re a dude.”

            Eren blinks at him. What the fuck? “Please go away.”

            The other man blinks and grins, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, “Oh, sorry about that. I’m Connie, by the way. I’m a trainer here and, well, Jean told us Levi took in a new client and I wanted to see who he is!”

            Okay….?

            “Couldn’t you have waited until I was out of the shower?” Eren whispers, speaking slowly as though he’s talking to a two year old. In a way, it feels like it.

            Right on cue, another figure bursts through the door, and Eren shrieks once again as he sees it’s a woman. She is Connie’s height, with dark brown hair tied back in a lose ponytail, side bangs framing her face. She is grinning maniacally as she shrieks at the sight of Eren, “It is true!”

            “Dammit, Sasha, you aren’t supposed to be in here!”

            “Fuck you, man, I waited forever.”

            Connie shrugs, “I can’t control that he takes long showers. I stood here forever, too.”

            Eren really, really wishes he could disappear from sight right now. He looks to the side to see the clock hung high overhead, the numbers flashing seven thirty. He then reaches out, struggling to cover himself at the same time, as he grabs his towel from the rack.

            Meanwhile, Sasha and Connie bicker.

            “Well, you should’ve said something, Jesus!”

            “It’s not Jesus.” Connie grins, “It’s Connie.”

            Sasha rolls her eyes in a playful way, her grin still present, “I can’t believe Levi got himself an actual client.”

            “Um, excuse me,” Eren interrupts, “If you can so kindly leave, I would like to go and get dressed but the floor is wet here and I’m not really comfortable coming out with just a towel…” Eren softly trails off as he realizes how dorky he sounds. But at the same time, he isn’t really willing for people to see his love handles and flabby arms.

            “Oh, yeah, of course!” Connie exclaims. He’s walking as he says it, grabbing Sasha by the arm and hauling her with him as they both leave. Eren then exhales, feeling even more exhausted just by that.

 

As Eren gets out of the showers, fully dressed, Connie and Sasha are nowhere near sight. He kind of expected them to be waiting around from how seemingly obsessive they seem. He picks up his things and leaves the locker room, about to leave the gym completely. But as he passes the front desk, behold, both vermins are in front of Eren immediately.           

            Sasha squeals and grabs Eren’s cheeks, squeezing hard, “Oh, my God! He’s so cute! I love his eyes!”

            Eren is too stunned to react, and when he does process the situation, someone else grabs Sasha’s arms away from his face, “Sasha, what’s wrong with you? He’s a customer!”

            It’s the other boy who was beside Levi when Eren first showed up. He didn’t get his name, but Eren remembers him resembling a barn animal. Literally. He has a long face and a long nose to go with it. Eren wouldn’t be surprised if he’s related to Sarah Jessica Parker, because he falls under the weird face but hot body category.

            Connie then speaks, “Sorry about her, Jean.” He then throws an arm around Sasha’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to her temple. Oh, they’re together. A match made in heaven, to be honest, because they’re both insanely crazy.

            “Um,” Eren whispers, “I’m going to go now.”

            All three of them look at Eren, and he got three different response. ‘No, beautiful eyes, stay!’ ‘What, why? We’re have a great time!’ ‘Sure, bye’. It seems pretty self-explanatory who said which.

            “Look,” Eren starts, “I have like…stuff to do.”

            Connie and Sasha nod and say simultaneously, “Stuff.”

            “Yeah,” Eren whispers, trying to get himself out of this situation, “And this stuff needs to be done.”

            “Done,” It sound so creepy, they sound like twins from horror movies.

            “So,” Eren draws out the ‘o’, “I gotta go.”

            They blink and immediately Eren is being squished by Sasha and Connie, “Okay. Man, Eren we are going to have a grand time! If Levi chose you, you are probably something awesome!”

            Jean snorts and Eren is sure he resembles a horse.

            “Okay.” Eren says. He pulls away from Connie and Sasha, but he couldn’t find it in himself to get annoyed as they both look at him with bright smiles. Such an odd way to meet someone, so rushed and random, but it’s fitting to them. They themselves seem like rushed and random people.

            So Eren smiles, a genuine smile, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            As he exits the gym, he thinks of Armin’s words. Connie and Sasha definitely know how to make the most of a situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FEEL LIKE THIS IS SHIT


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO
> 
> Thank you all for the unbelievable amount of support this story is getting! It's flipping me out how much positive feedback it has already gotten! I am thinking of getting a Beta, and if anyone is interested just tell me so in the comments. I'll give you my tumblr and we can message each other, how about it?

Eren wakes up, unable to even move. The work out last morning practically killed him, Levi being relentless and ruthless. He can’t even move with his sore muscles (literally spent the entire day lounging around in his home in front of the TV) But he loves it. Goddamn, does he love it. He makes up the guest bed (well, it’s technically his), and looks around the room. His suitcase is open, clothes spilling out and Eren remembers grabbing his mother’s photo when he ran out of his old room back in Reiner’s loft. The brunette looks at the picture standing on the nightstand beside the bed. Carla was caught off guard, her smile pure and genuine as she looks up. The sunlight cascading down on her, warm brown eyes twinkling and hair loosely tied.

            Eren softly smiles and says, like he did every morning since he learned the words, “Good morning, Mom.”

            Soon, Eren is trudging to the living room, stretching out his shoulders and relishing on the pain. He hasn’t felt this way in forever. It hurts, like yeah, Eren can’t make sudden movements but its pleasurable pain.

            “You okay?” Mikasa questions him.

            She’s on the couch, holding a cup of coffee as she tries not to spill it. The couch is a fancy, white sectional, contradicting the black rug. The entire living room is themed black and white. Mikasa loves to live rich. Nevertheless, Eren’s best friend is sitting on the couch, wearing a long cardigan with a tank top and shorts.

            Eren frowns, “Aren’t you cold? It’s February.”

            Mikasa flicker her wrist in a dismissive manner, “Nah. But you’re limping. Did you work out or get fucked?”

            Eren snorts and sits right beside her, “You ask as though I’m someone who gets fucked in the daily.”

            “Anything can happen, honestly.” Mikasa shrugs and takes another sip. “So, Levi was hard on you?”

            “Most definitely,” Eren groaned. He sits down beside Mikasa, taking in her Korean dramas playing on the TV. Mikasa is Japanese, but she always favored Korean dramas. Eren remembers her being obsessed with them ever since she was twelve. It’s like a lifestyle for her. He looks at the clock hanging on the wall, high up and over the TV. “It’s only six. I should’ve slept longer.”

            “You have work today.”

            “Yeah, at nine.”

            Eren went to college with a journalism major—to pursue his love for writing and to have his father off his back when he said he wanted to be an author. Grisha would flip if Eren took Creative Writing as his major. _Find a major that would feed you and give you roof over your head_ , he would say.

            All that shit.

            Yet, Eren took his journalism degree and got to work in a publishing company. He is a sub-editor for articles submitted by journalists—only to hate his job, hate the fact he can’t use his creativity, and hate those ‘journalist’ who write as though they’re fresh out of kindergarten.

            But now Eren must really work hard, try to get a promotion to raise enough to at least get his own apartment. He can’t really leech off of Mikasa and Armin forever. (though he knows if he even suggests the idea, both of them might attack him)

            “So,” Mikasa breaks him out of his train of thought, “Are you working out today, too?”

            Eren frowns and shrugs. He’s working late today, he has a meeting, “I can’t really make it, so no.”

            “Inform them, then. So they won’t be expecting you and bothering the hell out of you.”

            “Yeah, alright.”

 

* * *

 

 

Levi admittedly thinks he might make it, you know, without fucking any clients or customers. Might, being the key word. Because lately, in February, when the Christmas fat is shredded off and women are coming in, wanting that summer body—well, it’s like a kid in a candy store. Or, a kid being offered candy, as the umpteenth consumer gives him a wink as she walks by. Levi smirks right back, leaning back on his chair at the front desk, his eyes racking up and down her body. But Levi always had self-control, so this is where the ‘might’ part comes in. He just isn’t as determined to control himself.

            “I don’t get it.” Jean whines beside Levi, “Why don’t girls notice me?”

            His co-worker has his head on the front desk, form defeated as his eyes trail all of the women walking in and out. He watches them pay no attention to Jean as they take in Levi as some sort of God. Levi snorts and gives him a side glance.

            “Because desperation is oozing off of you in pathetic waves.”

            “I’m not desperate.”

            “Okay, sure. No one believes you. But sure.” Levi rolls his eyes.       He sits up only to stretch, popping those set bones. He has been in the same position forever (it’s five o’clock, Jesus), sitting on his chair, helping clueless customers while messing with Jean and doing (very little) paperwork. Ever since Levi got the task to help Eren, Erwin cut off his other clients, either giving them to others or just letting them go in general. Unluckily, Claire is still around. She works with Sasha, and Levi is sure Claire swings both ways as she uses the same moves to Sasha as she did on Levi. Levi turns his head to see the both of them in the weights section, Sasha talking animatedly as Claire does squats and purposefully pops her ass out. But, Levi is a man, who loves ass, and is caught staring at Claire’s but the evil bitch catches him.

            Claire smirks at him, says something to Sasha, and starts to make her way over.

            Levi quickly looks forward, “Oh, fuck.”

            Jean immediately looks up at Levi’s tense words, “What’s up? What’s going on?”

            Before Levi could reply, Claire is in front of the both of them. Levi is glad that there is a desk between him and her. But Claire leisurely leans against the desk, her boobs plumping out in the too small sports bra (side note: doesn’t that cause cancer? Levi doesn’t have boobs but, like, won’t that be painful for big breasted women?) as she looks at Levi with a sultry glare.

            “Levi.”

            Levi narrows his eyes, “Go away.”

            Jean immediately steps right beside Levi, way too close for the raven’s comfort, as he gives Claire a grin. He whips his hair back and gives her a wink, “Why, hello, there.”

            Claire looks at Jean as though he just appeared out of nowhere. In a way, he did. But immediately, her eyes narrow seductively as she purrs out, “Hello, handsome.”

            Okay, Levi has two options. Option A.) He could let Jean experience this crazy woman and have her after him instead of Levi. Or B.) He could save his co-worker’s ass. Immediately, Hanji’s scolding face appears in his mind. _Priorities, Levi!_

            “Don’t even try, Claire.” Levi says, “He’s gay.”

            Jean blanches and looks at Levi with utter surprise. He doesn’t say anything though, too surprised to really function properly at the moment. Thank God.

            Claire just rolls her eyes and puts her hands on her hips, “Shut up, Levi. I have an asshole, and a strap on. This could work.”

            Oh, my God. Levi’s eyes widen as he stares at Claire with surprise, “Go away.” He says slowly, “Or I will kick you out.”

            Jean squeezes Levi shoulder as a warning _. Don’t threaten the customers, Levi._ Erwin’s bitchy voice echoes in his head.

            “You want to fuck me, don’t you?” Claire asks, ignoring Levi altogether. She purrs at Jean again and Levi looks up to see Jean standing beside him, his face conflicted. _Look at me_ , Levi demands in his mind. Claire reaches forward and trails a finger down Jean’s arm. Levi grits his teeth. _C’mon, look at me, dammit! Hanji will kill me when she hears I let you through this._ But it seems as though Jean is in no sane mind, as his eyes look at Claire’s breasts, which the women is showing off. Levi is about to accept defeat. This is a lost cause—

            The phone’s shrill ring cuts off any trance Jean is in. He jumps, looks at Levi, sees his hard gaze, and pulls away from Claire. The other trainer awkwardly coughs, “Oh, um. I am gay.”

            Claire narrows her eyes in anger now, “You didn’t seem gay when you stared at my breasts!”

            Jean just blinks, opens his mouth, then closes it again. Then immediately shuffles to answer the phone, “Hello! Scouting Legions Gym, how may I help you?”

            Well, Levi may have saved a poor soul from torture. He sits back and Claire and him meet in a challenging stare off. She looks as though she’s about to kill him and Levi definitely looks smug and victorious.

            “No, this is Patrick.” Jean’s voice cuts the tension between the two of them.

            Levi gives him a questioning glance.

            Jean grins back at him but continues talking on the phone, “Yeah, that’s okay. I’ll tell Levi.”

            “Who’s that?” Levi asks once Jean hangs up.

            “It’s Eren. He’s working late tonight so he called to say he can’t make it.”

            Levi blinks, “Did he say how late?”

            For a mere moment, both of them forgot Claire’s there. But obviously, the red headed little bitch didn’t appreciate it. Claire screeches and stomps her foot, both Jean and Levi flinch as they look at her. Levi growls. He doesn’t believe in hitting woman but this one is testing the fuck out of him.

            “What do you want!?”

            “Is Eren, like, your boyfriend?” Claire asks, arms flailing wildly. “Is this why you don’t love me? You love someone else!?”

            Jean blinks and gives Levi a long look as he processes the scene before him. Levi, being patient, watches Jean as he finally pieces the puzzles together. “Oh, my God. This is the crazy bitch?”

            Claire gasps, “Excuse me? What did you call me!? I could have you fired!”

            In the midst of her hysteria, Sasha is scrambling by. She gives both Jean and Levi a terrified look as the demon before the three of them throws another tantrum.

            “Um, Claire.” Sasha intercepts, her voice soft as she tries to break Claire form her reverie, “How about we go back to our work out…?”

            “Get him fired!” Claire screeches.

            Levi growls, “The likelihood of me getting fired is as low as you getting a goddamn brain.”

            The red head lets out one yell before she’s stomping away. She gathers her things by the weight room and is heading out the door, “You lost a customer!”

            “Well, if it’s you, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing!”

            Before she could stomp out the door, Claire briefly turns around and yells, “I feel sorry for you, you know? Everyone will leave you and you will be left alone and sad because of who you are! I bet you’re a low life who can’t accomplish anything!”

            Levi scoffs and looks away as Claire finally leaves the building. In the midst of it, Jean yells at the other customers to go back to their business, but Levi is still seething in his seat. He didn’t know he was gripping his other arm so tightly that nails were about to pierce through the flesh until Sasha places a gentle hand on top of his.

            “Levi, are you okay?”

            Levi moves away from her grasp and nods stiffly, “Of course I am. What’s with that stupid question?”

            “I don’t know, man.” Jean whispers, “What she said was really harsh.”

            Levi rolls his eyes, “I’m fine.” He wants to conversation to deter away from him. He doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. “What did Eren say again?”

            “Um, well, he’s working late and that he can’t make it.”

            “How late?”

            Jean frowns as he thinks, “Nine, I’m sure.”

            Levi nods again and suddenly gets up, both Jean and Sasha looking at him in surprise, “Go find his paperwork and give me his address.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eren had an exhausting day. His meeting prolonged forever and his boss really was not in the mood. Ymir, his boss, always had her moods determined by her wife, Krista. If Krista is upset at Ymir, then Ymir is upset at all of her employees. Eren had met Krista once, and she’s a little angel, but he gets really confused as to why she’s with Ymir. They’re complete opposites. _Just like him and Reiner were._

            Eren banishes the thought as quickly as it came. He really wants to go home and eat some dinner then go to bed. It’s been a long day.

            But when he opens the door, his eyes are on Mikasa. Wait, it’s not Mikasa.

            “Levi?” Eren splutters as he takes in Levi’s sitting form. His trainer is on the couch, watching TV. “What are you doing here?”

            “Since you can’t come to the gym, I came to you.” Levi shrugs, as though there is nothing wrong with the fact he just broke into Eren’s home without a warning.

            The brunette blinks, taking in the situation, “How did you get inside?’

            “Your girlfriend let me in.”

            “I don’t have a girlfriend.” Eren immediately says. It’s been a habit, since people always mistaken Mikasa and Eren as a couple since middle school. In the beginning, he would say ‘I don’t have a girl _friend_ ’ now he says ‘I don’t have a _girl_ friend’. In the middle of all that he found out about his sexuality.

            Levi quickly caught on, “Ah. Best friend, then?”

            Eren nods, “Yeah. Mikasa and Armin are my best friends. Where is Mikasa?”

            “Shower. I was hanging around your door since nine and, without even questioning my presence, she just opened the door, snapped at me to wait as she takes a shower.” Levi smiles, “She’s a confident one.”

            Eren nods, “That she is. But Levi, I already called you. It’s pretty late and I’m not in the mood to work out.”

            Levi then stands up, straightening out his muscles as he looks at Eren dead in the eye. In that single movement alone, Levi looks like he tripled in size. Or maybe it’s the fact he’s scaring Eren with that deathly glare of his. Eren himself just gulps visibly, feeling small under Levi’s gaze.

            “Look, here, Eren. I gave you a promise to achieve your goal. Saturdays are your only off days. Repeat after me, what are your off days?”

            “Uh-um, S-Saturdays,” Eren stutters.

            Levi nods, “What day is it today?”

            “…Monday.” Eren whispers.

            “It’s not Saturday. I don’t care if you’re bleeding or Jesus himself tells me I need to give you a break on any day other than a Saturday—you are working out.”

            Eren just breaths out roughly, his irritation getting to him. But Levi is right, dear God is he right. So Eren just sucks it up, frowns at Levi, and yells, “Fine! Let me go change into some workout clothes.”

            Levi smirks, “Go ahead.”

            Eren drops his work bag and jacket on the floor, too pissed to truly care. He stomps towards his room and slams it shut behind them. Only then does Eren roughly pull off his shirt and pants, slipping on a sweat shirt and another pair of loose basketball shorts. But he catches a glance at his beautiful bed, the sheets are calling out to him.

            _Eren, come to bed._

            Eren sighs as he looks at his bed with longing. _I can’t. Soon, though, my love._

            But as Eren is walking out, running shoes in one hand and socks on his feet, he sees Mikasa and Levi chatting at the kitchen counter. Mikasa is making her fruit smoothie ‘detox’ (It’s not that bad, kind of good) while she talks and Levi is at the other side of the island, just listening by nodding his head.

            But once Mikasa catches sight of Eren, she hushes up. Eren frowns, a certain type of dread crawling up his back, “What were you guys talking about?”

            Levi answers for her, “What took you so damn long? C’mon, it’s almost ten. My shift will be over at eleven.”

            Eren nods and slips on his running shoes. He grabs a water bottle and ignores Mikasa’s cries about her detox drink, “Eren!”

            “I’ll drink it when I come back, Mika!”

            “You better! Or I’m force feeding this bitch down your throat with a tube.”

            Of fucking course. Levi steps out of Eren’s apartment, patiently waiting by the door as Eren finishes his goodbyes with Mikasa. With his phone and water bottle at hand, Eren closes the door shut behind the both of them. They then make their way about.

            “I’m, like, really tired Levi.” Eren whispers, “So I may not do so great.”

            “Whatever you do would be better than doing nothing at all.”

            Eren cracks a smile, “Very true.”

            A silence settles between them as they walk through the cold February air. Luckily, there isn’t much snow (snow usually falls around December or January) but Eren still feels the cold nipping at his skin.

            “Thanks,” Eren whispers, “For believing so hard in me. I really appreciate it.”

            Levi whips his head towards Eren, obviously surprised at Eren’s words. A shadow passes his face as he nods and gives Eren a small smile, “Of course. I’m your trainer, it’s my job to keep you in check.”

 

 

 

Levi feels guilty. Eren is so genuine, it makes Levi feel bad he isn’t.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Eren found a sort of rhythm in cardio. But Levi didn’t make Eren do much in cardio, as he immediately pushed the brunette into the weight room. _If you build muscle, it’ll be easier to lose the weight_. Something about muscles burning fat, Eren doesn’t remember. He hasn’t been paying that much attention as his eyes take in all of the different weight machines. He hasn’t seen shit like this in years. But Eren is excited. He loved lifting weights back then, seeing his muscles bulge as he breathes out, pushing the bar out of his body with the muscles of his biceps. Eren was kind of obsessed with lifting weights back then, because he didn’t have the type of body that easily shows muscles. He can never be the Rock. Eren was strong, but his body wouldn’t show that type of muscle unless he devoted himself to it. He’s the ‘lean and muscle-y’ type. The fit twink type. Not daddy dominate, but fit twink.

            But Levi is a daddy dominate. Okay, that’s a weird thing to say, but it’s so true. Even though Levi is not someone Eren would ever go for—dark hair, shorter than he would like—Levi is prime daddy material. His muscles are bulging, a nice authoritative aura around him. Okay, between you and him—Eren thinks Levi is attractive. Especially now.

            Levi is watching Eren lift weights, posture relaxed but ready if Eren ever accidentally dropped one. He’s also obviously tired, eyes narrowed more than usual, almost closed, but the red rimmed eyes point it out even more. It makes Eren’s heart soar as he sees that Levi is working this hard for him. Talk about dedication.

            Yet, Eren uses Levi’s slight deliriousness to his advantage as he studies him at the corner of his eye. Sure, Levi may not be his type, not at all, but he’s hot. Eren would be a liar if he says anything contradicting Levi’s looks. He has jet black hair, tied at the back of his head as he shows his undercut. (Such a hipster look, Eren didn’t expect that from him). But even with his arms crossed, his biceps are bulging. They’re not as big as Reiner’s, but it doesn’t mean Eren doesn’t want to run his hands up and down them. He also has that sultry, dominating face. Like Mikasa, now Eren understands why he mistook him for her, because they both have dark hair, dark eyes, amazing bone structure, and an aura of dominance.

            Eren is thinking of dragging these two to get their DNA checked. They might quite possibly be long lost twins or like siblings. Mikasa _is_ adopted.

            But fuck, if Levi isn’t hot. Eren should really stop obsessing over his looks. Like what if Levi caught him staring like the freak—

            “Eren, how much did you do?”

            “Oh,” Eren snaps out of his daydream. He’s about to answer when he realized, that, well, he forgot. His mind was too preoccupied by Levi’s damn face and body to really pay attention with how much he’s done. So Eren flushes as he whispers, “I don’t know.”

            Levi rolls his eyes and Eren feels a need to please him somehow (and, no, not like that. Jeez). “Pay attention next time. I counted thirty and I said to stop after thirty.”

            “Right.” Eren whispers. He shakes his head and says to himself to get out of these thoughts. They’re useless and will get him nowhere. Like, hell, there won’t be a day in hell Eren could see him and Levi doing anything. But, obviously, paying attention to his looks distracts him enough to forget the pain—the pain obviously present as Eren stretches out his arms.

            Levi nods and kicks himself off the wall. “Stretch out those arms as we are on to the next one. Remember to do it in sets this time. We don’t want to overwork your muscles.”

            “Yes, sir.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eren is still stretching out his upper body muscles in the shower. He thinks it’s too dangerous to try and stretch out his legs as the floor is slippery underneath him, but, hell, if Eren doesn’t feel good. He knows it’s going to be very sore tomorrow morning but he could care less. He knows work outs give off endorphins, a type of chemical that makes you happy, but Eren knows with or without endorphins he’ll still be grinning this wide. He feels confident, happy now. Even with the little progress—Eren is feeling great.

            So he steps out the shower, taking his sweet time as his fatigue is no longer there after the nice warm water hitting him. It’s almost eleven, and Eren quite possibly will just skip taking a shower tomorrow morning because he took one tonight. He dresses himself slowly, playing music out the speakers of his phone (it may or may not be Beyonce and Eren may or may not have known the choreography to Single Ladies).

            He steps out of the locker rooms, muscles still nice and sore and a blissful smile on his face, ready to walk out the door. That is until he hears someone barge in.

            Eren flinches back and yelps, but sees a shaved head and is immediately relaxed as he sees Connie. Right behind him are Jean and Sasha.

            The three of them jump at the sight of Eren, until Sasha breaks out of her daze and squeals, “Beautiful Eyes! Hiya!”

            Eren smiles back, “Hey.” _Beautiful eyes…?_ Oh, Eren hasn’t told them their name. “I’m Eren, by the way.”

            Sasha coos, “So cute! Connie, why does your name have to be so idiotic?”

            Connie gasps dramatically, hand pressed against his chest as he looks at Sasha with utter betrayal, “Baby, how could you?”

            In the midst of all that, Eren sees Jean rolling his eyes in annoyance. It was also then when he took in all of their outfits, and they are all dressed up. All the active wear and Connie’s douche tank is traded in as they all wore something sexy. Sasha has on a nude colored dress, the neckline splitting in the middle all the way to the bottom of her breasts. Sasha’s side boobs are in full show, but damn, does she look gorgeous. Connie also lost the douche tank for black jeans and a blue button up shirt, Jean looking quite similar except Jean’s jeans (haha, get what Eren did there) are quite skinny with an expensive, dark rich button up.

            Eren blinks and speaks before he thinks, “What are you guys wearing? I mean, you look great, but—why are you wearing that in a gym?”

            Sasha flushes and hastily pulls the bottom of her dress down, “W—well, Jean, Connie, and I thought of hitting up a bar.”

            “It’s Monday?”

            “Yeah, that’s when the drinks aren’t so expensive,” Connie shrugs and grins at Eren, “We’re here because Jean forgot his wallet.”

            Jean perks up as though he just remembered and starts moving. As he makes his way to the front desk, Sasha and Connie skip towards Eren, “What are you doing here?” Sasha asks, excited, “I thought you called and said you aren’t coming in.”

            Eren softly smiles, “Yeah, Levi kind of dragged me here against my will.”

            “Man, I never saw Levi so dedicated. I’m so glad for him!”

            Connie nods with Sasha and leans in to press a kiss to her cheek. Eren, in the meanwhile, thinks about her words. She said practically the same thing yesterday. _Levi took an actual client._

            Eren frowns, “Levi is really dedicated, what makes you think that?”            

            Sasha blinks and looks at Eren with surprise, and only then did Eren realize he may have said the words harsher than he meant them to be. So he quickly says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”

            She shakes her head and smiles, “Don’t worry about it. Well, did you not know?”

            Eren shakes his head no because what is he supposed to know? Is Levi hiding some sort of hidden, dangerous secret. Jesus, of course, of course all the hot ones have something going on for them. With Reiner, it’s the cheating, and Levi, probably a drug addiction or he’s probably an alcoholic. Eren should seriously consider becoming a cat woman, because that may be his destiny.

            Sasha and Connie share a look before continuing, “Well, Levi has a reputation around this gym.”

            _A drug dealer? A con man? What is it!?_

            “He sleeps around with his clients a lot.” Connie says, “But I guess something changed in him to choose you and help you, but he normally has sexy women working with him. And he normally ends up going home with them.”

            Eren feels a weight get off his chest as he thinks _Thank God._ Okay, well, not like Eren considers sleeping around is a really great thing. Levi doesn’t seem to be a troubled angst-y adult starring in an Independent movie about his promiscuous life as a prostitute or player or whatever. But as Connie and Sasha say it, Eren does think Levi has this player thing going for him. Quite obviously, he is gorgeous. But at the same time, thinking Levi is mindless and has no soul because of his beauty is shallow on Eren’s side.

            You can’t really judge a book by its cover.

            “So that’s why I think you’re something special, Eren!” Sasha muses, “Because Levi chose you for a reason!”

            Eren smiles at that, feeling his heart beat a little irregularly. He feels quite special at hearing those words. How nice of Levi.

            “Actually,” Jean buts in. He’s flipping his wallet around between his hands as he comes by the three of them, “Levi chose Eren to save his job. Erwin caught him because of his reputation and said if he doesn’t work seriously with one client, then he’s fired. I tried explaining this to you dumb asses, but you were squealing too loud for my words to go through.”

            Sasha’s and Connie’s face dropped along with Eren’s heart. _Okay, well, there goes with feeling special. Whatever._

            “Dammit, Jean, why ruin our happiness?” Sasha whines, “You seriously owe me drinks now.”

            “Why were you so excited?” Jean asks.

            “Because Eren isn’t another bimbo and he seems so cool!” Sasha talks in a tone indicating as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “You know what, Eren? We’re still going to talk to you! No matter what!”

            She hooks her arm through Eren’s and grins at Connie. Her boyfriend gets the gist immediately does the same at Eren’s other arm. “Hell, yeah, man.”

            Jean rolls his eyes, “You guys are acting insane. We need to go it’s past eleven and I still want to see if I can score some hot babes.”

            They say their goodbyes. Sasha squeezing Eren tight and Connie playfully punching him on the arm. (Well, to Connie it’s playful. Eren could still feel the pressure ripple through his sore arm muscles. He is strong, no doubt about it.)

            But he just shakes it off and gets home. He’s willing to get used to this.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikasa and Armin are awake when he entered. Mikasa’s drinking coffee again, obviously decaf, as she is sitting on the couch with Armin not too far from her. Eren himself is freezing as he walked in freezing cold, winter Chicago with nothing but basketball shorts and a sweatshirt. So he waddles by and plops next to Mikasa, leaning against her for warmth.

            Mikasa yelps and moves away, careful with her coffee, “What the fuck, you ice cube? Eren, did you not take a jacket?”

            “No!” Eren whines, “Help me keep warm.”

            Armin laughs and gets up, and while Eren and Mikasa bicker, his glorious blonde friend returns with a blanket and drapes it over Eren. It’s one of those throws Eren bought during Black Friday, the one with hilariously drawn turkeys with snoods (those red hanging things, for those confused) representing balls. Eren loves this blanket.

            And so, he snuggles into it and only then did Mikasa slowly lean back into him, the blanket is a barrier between Eren’s cold skin and Mikasa’s warm one.

            “So, how was working out?” Armin asks. He’s laying down at the long, bed like section of the sectional. His eyes don’t leave the TV screen as he questions Eren.  Korean dramas, as per usual. That’s the main thing playing in this house.

            “Pretty good. I lifted weights.”

            “I told Armin that Levi came by today.” Mikasa says against her coffee cup. Eren doesn’t see her hidden smile. “He’s really hot. You going to bang that?”

            Eren rolls his eyes, “No, I’m not. He’s not my type, even though he is attractive. Plus, he’s straight.”

            “I would go for him,” Mikasa admits, “Not my type either. He isn’t the type of hot that’s someone’s ‘type’. He’s everyone’s ‘type’ technically. So hot.”

            Eren thinks of when he thought Mikasa and Levi could be siblings. He frowns at the thought of Mikasa and Levi dating, only to discover they’re related. That would cause so much drama. Forget Korean Dramas, it will list under a Spanish telenovela with that amount of drama.

            “You guys could be related,” Eren admits, “That’s weird to think about.”

            Mikasa laughs, “That’s true. He’s the guy version of me. Don’t worry I won’t go after his hot ass.” She shrugs, “Guys go after me.”

            “I feel like he’s good for you, Eren.” Armin admits, “I mean, a trainer coming to your house to get you to work out? It’s great.”

            Eren thinks of Jean’s words but doesn’t say anything, “It is.”

            “Armin’s right” Mikasa muses, seeming distracted, “I like him. He seems good for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO HERE IS THIS CHAPTER? I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO

_There is this infinite ideology when it comes to love._

 

Eren frowns. That seems too, well, theoretical. He’s writing a novel not master’s thesis. Plus, does he even understand that sentence himself? It quite probably doesn’t even make sense.

 

_Kelsey first saw him in the rain, drenched in water and sadness as he prods through the school, eyes low and skin ash grey._

 

Okay, no. That’s out of nowhere. And far too cliché. Eren huffs and backspaces until the white word document is staring at him in degradation. Of fucking course he gets into writer’s block right now. It is midnight and Eren did wake up with the dread of his past, Reiner haunting his mind and controlling his body movements until he pulls up his laptop. He did try to write his story only to have this block in front of his creative process. Isn’t there a saying that sadness fuels the writer’s process? Where in the living hell is that fuel? Because right now Eren is near tears and having a hard time not going for ice cream.

            “I give up.” He mutters to no one as he shuts his laptop. He should’ve known, because Eren isn’t really that great of a writer. He has done his fair share of fanfics but when it comes to an original, Eren can’t write even if his life depends on it.

            He cranes his neck and looks at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand (Honestly, who uses those anymore?) to see it’s past twelve. He then thinks of Reiner, and each thought produces a brand new tear.

            Eren takes a shaky breath and mumbles, “What is this life.”  No answer. Not like he expected any. He leans back on the desk chair, looking upward and staying transfixed at the fan spinning endlessly above him. His mind is so tired but he doesn’t feel like sleeping.

            “Is it going to be like this forever?” Eren asks the fan. “How long will it take until I’m over him?”

            The fan makes its humming noise.

            “Love is kind of a stupid concept, huh?” Eren chuckles darkly, “And two years ago I thought of writing a novel because of it. Because of Reiner. He never quite loved me, so maybe this book idea is a complete irony.”

            Eren sighs and straightens up. He stares at the blank laptop screen for a wee bit before deciding to try again. Another shot. If it doesn’t work out he’ll go the bed. So the screen turns on, he clicks on Word, and he thinks. He thinks of how he’s feeling. Then, gently placing each fingertip on the keyboard—he writes.

 

_If I have a soulmate, would he feel the pain I’m going through? It’s quite insane, really, how someone can be made for another. No one can explain the dynamics behind it—the reasoning, the beliefs_

 

* * *

 

 

Eren chuckles and stops. This isn’t working. He should just give up and go to bed, but he looks up at the fan again and says. “If soulmates are real, then mine should get up right this minute and go to pee.”

 

* * *

 

 

Levi felt it in his sleep. His bladder is pulsating through his lower regions and the raven man groans, the thought of just pissing in his bed passed his mind a few times. But he would never do it because one.) that is disgusting and two.) Hanji would have a blast. Levi would rather die than to give Hanji any blackmail information.

            And so he gets up, places his feet on the cold hardwood floor of his bedroom before slowly trudging along. The shitty apartment only has one bathroom and it’s in the hall, but Levi’s bladder obviously doesn’t care about politeness as it rudely forces the raven man to hurry up and go in.

 

* * *

 

 

Eren chuckles to himself as he thinks of it. A thought of a man dancing around as he rushes toward his bathroom to let out his sweet release. He gets up, properly shutting his laptop before slowly crawling into bed. It’s quite a nice feeling to be tired enough to sleep and not force oneself to sleep. So Eren rests his head against the pillow, half-heartedly pulling the covers up to his chin. He thinks of the soulmate theory.

            “And, um,” Eren then yawns, “He will love mint chocolate chip ice cream and always have a desire to eat it.”

            And with that, he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Several streets down, Hanji is woken up from her sleep. She is rubbing her eyes as she shuffles out of her bedroom and towards the kitchen. She knows it isn’t an intruder as she hears Levi’s loud and displeased groans. She also has the urge to stab him for waking her up so early (it is one in the morning), but Hanji is more of a gentle creature and doesn’t want Levi rubbing off on her.

            “Levi.” Hanji huffs. She sees him rummaging through the fridge and cupboards. He looks so frantic—thin eyebrows pulled in as mouth is set in a taut line. “What are you doing?”

            “Do we have any mint chocolate chip ice cream?” Levi asks.

            Hanji frowns at the tone of urgency, “No. I thought you hate mint chocolate chip.”

            “Well, I’m craving it right now.”

            “Craving it?” Hanji cracks a grin, “What are you? Pregnant?”

            Levi rolls his eyes as he finally looks at her. “No.” He snaps.

            “Ah, so you’re on your period.” Hanji hums, “I get it, I get it.”

            “Shut up, vile woman.” Levi abandons his search as he grabs the car keys. “I’m heading to the store to grab some.”

            “Now, hold on there.” Hanji muses. She slowly slides forward and gently takes away Levi’s keys from his hand, “There is no such urgency. You can go tomorrow.”

            “I need it now!”

            “You’ll be fine, Jesus.” Hanji rolls her eyes and grins at the shorter man, “And I know you didn’t go to college and have no interest to do so, but I do have med school and my first class is pretty early in the morning.”

            Levi sighs and nods, “I know. Yeah. I apologize.”

            “No problem. And you have work in six hours so go to bed.” Hanji grins, “I never expected this out of you. Sure, I could see myself doing it but you? What happened?”

            “I don’t know, I can’t even comprehend it.” Levi mutters. He feels the weight of fatigue drop down all at once and Levi is itching to go to bed. “Goodnight.”

            Levi makes his way around his friend, or tries to, as Hanji whips out her arm and blocks his path. The raven man frowns at her and her curious expression, “What’s wrong with you?”

            “Well, Levi.” Hanji tuts, “I feel like this odd behavior is happening because something scary and new is coming.”

            “Hanji, I hate you and if you thought of becoming a fortune teller why don’t you just drop out of med school and carry around a giant glass ball.” Levi snaps.

            “Because I paid too much for my under graduation to back out now. You should’ve told me that during my first year, Levi. Plus, I’m studying psych.” Hanji waggles her finger in front of Levi’s face. “Psychology and psychiatry go hand in hand. Except psychology is scientific and psychiatry is over exaggerated.”

            “Okay,” Levi rolls his eyes, “I didn’t need that useless lesson but go on. I want to sleep.”

             “You’re showing restlessness and that restlessness is because there is something you’re nervous about. Something that’s causing you to slightly panic.” Hanji hums, “Am I right?”

            “Hanji, I’m going to bed.” Levi mutters. And with that, he roughly pushes by and makes his way to his bedroom. Half of Hanji’s inevitable words proved to be true the other day, and Levi is nervous that she’s right about him being nervous. What is there for him to be nervous about? Sure, his job but he has Eren and Eren is showing great signs of losing weight.

            But as Levi settles into the sheets, sleep pulling him in, he nestles into the pillow and mutters, “I hope the fucker who did this loses sleep.”

 

* * *

 

 

Eren cannot properly work out. Never mind the fact he’s supposed to run three miles today (cardio day), he can’t even get his brain work. It seemed quite obvious as he comes inside the gym, eyes almost shut as he peers through almost closed lids. Jean is on his phone, as per usual, but immediately rummages around at the sound of a customer entering.

            He relaxes when he sees it’s just Eren, but frowns at Eren’s sluggish movements, “Are you okay?”

            “No,” Eren groans. He stops before the front desk and leans down on it, resting his head, “I woke up early and I can’t sleep.”

            Jean snickers, which is immediately silence by Eren’s glare. “Well, good luck today. Levi isn’t going easy on you, you know that?”

            Eren mumbles to the front desk. Jean could barely make it out.

            “Well, maybe you aren’t showing any progress because you aren’t eating clean. What did you have for breakfast, at least?”

            Jean could see him physically deflate as though he’s an anime character, “Bacon and eggs.”

            “See, maybe that’s why. Stop eating bacon.”

            “You can’t just tell someone to stop eating bacon,” Eren whines. He digs his chin onto the desk as he glooms, “It’s like telling someone to stop breathing.”

            “I never ate bacon.” Jean says, “I’m vegetarian.”

            Eren blinks up at him, jaw unhinged, “Oh, my God. Is that why you’re like this?’

            Jean frowns, a little offended, “I think I’m doing just fine.”

            “You look like a barn animal because you probably eat only hay.” Eren exclaims. But immediately, his eyes widen, “Whoa, I just said that out loud. I’m so---”

            Jean’s eyebrow twitches. _He’s a customer. He’s a customer_. “Can it, eyebrows. At least I don’t have caterpillars over my eyes.”

            Eren glares, “Hey, Jean, how was your role in Black Beauty? Considering since it’s the film that brought you to fame.”

            “I may look like a horse, you fuck,” Jean snaps, “But I’m one sexy horse.”

            “I wouldn’t know, bestiality isn’t my thing.” Eren snaps back .

            That’s how Levi found the both of them. He’s walking in late, mind still sluggish, only to be welcomed by the sight of Eren and Jean snarling at each other like animals. The raven man clenches his fist as he stalks forward, acting before he could think, grabbing the back of Eren’s shirt and the back of Jean’s, pulling them apart.

            Jean yelps and Eren is frozen in shock, staring at Levi with surprise and fear, “Levi.”

            “Look, you shits.” Levi growls, “I didn’t get enough sleep, so if I get annoyed by another one of your petulant acts I might shove the dumbbell up both your asses.”

            Jean frowns, looking like a child as he pouts, “Eren would love that.”

            Eren glowers at him again. “You’re damn right I will. I’m a twink and proud. Call me Twinkerbelle if you must, seabiscuit.”

            Jean is caught off guard and Eren grins in satisfaction. Levi is staring at Jean, comparing a horse to him. _Eren is quite right_. And Jean didn’t expect Eren to be gay.

            “Wow, you’re gay?” Jean asks, eyes narrowed as he studies Eren. He doesn’t _look_ gay.

            Eren frowns and feels a sense of dread as he mistakens Jean’s narrow eyes, “Uh, yeah. You got a problem with that?”

            Jean then waves his arms around, “Of course not! I’m open minded. Just, like, don’t hit on me, yeah?”

            Before Eren could snap at how he isn’t into bestiality _once again_ , Levi butts in, “Women aren’t into you and neither are men. Get over yourself.”

            And with that, he drags Eren away.

 

They’re in the cardio room, and Levi doesn’t have enough sleep. It seems that Eren doesn’t either, the way he’s half-heartedly stretching, languidly moving his body. The trainer would snap at him, he should snap at him, but considering how he isn’t in a better shape makes him feel as though he doesn’t have a right.

            “Get on with it, Eren,” Levi says instead. “We don’t have all day.”

            Eren just mumbles and slowly moves to the treadmill. “Levi, can I have a laidback day today?”

            “No.”

            Eren just groans and turns on the treadmill. Normally, Levi instructs Eren to do speed walking for the first minute before he starts to jog, but as Levi watches Eren walk…and walk…and walk—he has a feeling Eren isn’t going to start running anytime soon. Levi sees he’s trying, as Eren is swinging his arms back and forth in a sense to get himself in the mood, but his arms immediately fall to his side seconds later, head bowed.

            Levi rolls his eyes, “Stop the treadmill.”

            The treadmill stops and Eren turns around in fear, gnawing on his lower lip as he stares at Levi with anticipation.

            The raven man grunts softly, “Off day today. But you’re making up for it on Saturday.”

            Eren then grins, the traces of sleep shaken off as he looks bright as Summer’s day, smile vibrant and eyes glistening. Levi chokes on his spit at the sudden change of atmosphere and almost misses Eren’s rushed words.

            “Oh, my God, Levi thank you so much!” And with that, Eren almost bolts out the door if it weren’t for Levi’s halting grip at his forearm.

            The brunette winces underneath the harsh grip, and so Levi relaxes a bit, “Don’t go parading out there. We at least have to pretend we’re working out so Erwin doesn’t barge in to see me not doing my job.”

            Eren then remembers. He’s the one that, if not careful, could get Levi fired. So he nods in understanding, “Yeah, of course. Your boss will fire you if you aren’t focused.”

            Levi blinks, “How do you know about that?”

            “Jean told me.”

            “Ah.” He looks away, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, “I’m sorry if that’s offending. I’m really doing this for you too.”

            “No, it’s okay,” Eren mumbles softly. He is very awkward when people apologize to him for unnecessary things. Eren isn’t offended, he doesn’t need an apology. He’s surprised that Levi, the least polite person Eren encountered, is flushed with slight embarrassment. “I understand what you need to do.”

            Levi breathes out and sits down on the floor of the cardio room. Eren follows, sitting with a considerable distance between him and his trainer, facing him. The cardio room has a wall of mirrors that Levi’s back is against. The morning light from the window is reflecting from the mirrors and gives Levi a white halo surrounding him. He looks ethereal.

            “I never got to ask.” Levi says, “Where did the motivation come from?’

            Eren frowns, “What?”

            “You know, the drive to lose the weight.”

            Eren’s heart drops at the remembrance. His motivations isn’t particularly a healthy one, probably near obsessive. Well, to Mikasa and Armin. But Eren isn’t quite over Reiner yet, and each time he thinks of him, well, it just sends a jolt through his heart. Nevertheless, Eren just awkwardly shrugs.

            “My ex-boyfriend cheated on me.” Eren mumbles, “And it’s because of my weight. So I guess that’s what pushed me to finally work out.”

            Levi blinks, mouth slightly parts, “You shouldn’t change yourself for others.”

            “I’m not.” Eren snaps. He then immediately regrets it as he whispers, “I’m not. I’m doing this for myself.” Eren still winces at the bitter tone.

            Levi doesn’t say anything but looks away. Eren still feels the guilt gnawing and he wants to do nothing but reach out, apologize, make up for it. But it seems he lost his chance during his minute of thinking too hard, as Levi gets up.

            “I’ll be going now. Try not to be seen by Erwin. If you don’t know how he looks like—well if you see Captain America it’s probably him.”

            And with that he leaves.

            Eren decides he needs to stop thinking too hard for unnecessary things and start thinking for necessary things—maybe then he wouldn’t feel like this.

           

* * *

 

 

Mikasa is leaning forward, hands gripping the handles as she bikes with intensity. The rage music is pulsing in her ears as her anger is sweated out in waves. She’s the boss. She’s the MVP. Mikasa Ackerman is the main bitch and she has a hot body and hot everything. Because no one is better than her, no one—

            Red is slowly fading out as Eren’s personal ringtone goes through. Mikasa is snapped out of her reverie as she slows down, finally coming back to Earth. The model curses and snatches her phone from her spandex pocket. Eren’s adorable face is on the screen.

            Mikasa answers the call, “Eren, what is so important that you have to interrupt my work out time?”

            “Oh, no.  Did I call in the midst of you planning the murder of everyone you ever met and you’re releasing your anger on the treadmill?”

            “No.” Mikasa deadpans, “I’m doing it on the bike.”

            “Of course. Well, my workout got cut early because of my lack of sleep and I’m making up for it on Saturday. Can you pick me up?”

            “Eren, just walk home.”

            “It’s freezing and the cab drivers this early are weird, you know that.”

            Mikasa checks the clock on the screen to see it’s barely past seven thirty in the morning. Chicago may be a beautiful city—but the cab drivers are a menace. The only ones out before eight are the low-budget, rude ones that have a sense of pride.

            Mikasa groans to herself as she swings off the bike machine. It’s a beautiful high tech one, sleek silver with cushioned handles and pedals. There’s even an attached mini TV. Everything in her model company’s gym is high tech. Mikasa loves working here. It’s fucking awesome.

            “Why should I get you? How about you call Armin?” Even as she says this, Mikasa lifts herself off the bike and makes her way to her water bottle.

            “Armin isn’t picking up. He turns off his phone. Mika, please.”

            “Fine. But you owe me, you fucker.”

            “Thanks, Mikasa, I love you!”

            “Yeah, yeah. Love you, too.”

            Mikasa just hums and hangs up the call. She throws her phone into her gym bag, watching it land with a soft omf against her track pants. As she cools herself down, taking copious sips of her water bottle, Mikasa notices the only other model in the gym look at her. She’s across the gym, lifting dumbbells as her biceps define.

            Her name is Annie. She’s kind of like Mikasa, except she’s quite weird in the raven’s opinion. She’s a tall slender blonde, hair as short as Mikasa’s, with eyes that is neither grey nor blue. It’s a weird mixture of the two. But, no matter how cute, Annie never talks, and whenever she does, she speaks as though she’s one of Charles Dickens characters. All metaphors and thick vocabulary and everything. It pisses Mikasa off to the max.

            “A lover?” Annie mutters in question.

            Mikasa doesn’t react in the slightest to her question. She keeps her eyes casted down to her gym bag as she packs. “Not at all. Best friend.”

            “That’s foreseen.”

            “What?”

            “Not surprising.” Annie drawls out, her expression never changing.

            “Well, you could’ve just said that. And what are you inferring, exactly?”

            “Well, Ackerman, you never had a lover by your side since you started working in this establishment. Nor have you ever spoken of ever having one. It crosses the minds of a few other models, including myself, if you’re incapable of being romanticized. Or being romanticized by a male.”

            “I wonder if you’re incapable of speaking like a normal, 21st century woman.”

            Annie quirks a small smile. Mikasa almost misses it. “Are the suspicions true? Because the way you’re avoiding the question is giving me the sense that it is.”

            Mikasa frowns and looks forward. “Look, Annie. You piss me off. And why should I have a boyfriend? To prove to the other model bitches what? What does that prove exactly?” As she zips up her bag, Mikasa swings it over her shoulder. “I’ve never seen you with anyone, either.”

            “I’m asexual and aromantic. I don’t do relationships because that’s an entire hassle that I could give less of a shit about.”

            Mikasa just rolls her eyes and pulls on her sweatshirt. She leaves her legs bare, because her body is still hot and adrenaline is still pumping, hoping that the cool air outside would cool her down.

            As she walks out, she ignores Annie’s soft called goodbye. To be frank, she pretends that conversation never happened. What type of idiocy is that? Questioning someone on their relationship status. Annie is the type of spite people on purpose, finding amusement in other people’s discomfort. Maybe she’s doing the same to Mikasa.

            But for now, who cares. Mikasa needs to pick up Eren’s sorry ass and force him to buy her shit.

 

* * *

 

 

After Eren called Mikasa, he was invited the sit at the front desk with Sasha and Jean. Levi is still nowhere to be found, even after Eren asked both of the fitness trainers on his whereabouts. It seems he kind of disappeared.

            It’s a slow morning. Every morning is slow, because no one is here that early during the weekdays. Sasha and Jean are chatting (moreover, Sasha is chatting and Jean is partially listening as he scrolls through his phone). Eren is behind the desk with them, waiting for Mikasa to come and pick him up.          

            “You know, Eren.” Sasha says suddenly, “I could’ve gave you a ride!”

            “Sasha, if Erwin found out you’d be in trouble.” Jean pitches in. His eyes never leave his phone screen. He’s like one of those high schoolers who got their first smart phone and is immediately addicted to it.

            “Eren could pay extra, then. Erwin can’t get mad at money.”

            “I’d rather have my friend pick me up than pay more. I don’t have money coming out of my ass.”

            Sasha nods in understanding, “Where do you work?”

            Eren half-heartedly shrugs as his eyes watch the front doors. Mikasa won’t come in until sometime later. “I’m technically an editor for a publishing company.”

            “Like novels!” Sasha gasps, excited. Eren watches her visibly become animated as she bounces up and down her seat.

            “Not exactly.” He softly laughs, “It’s for a newspaper. Its low budget and the pay is low, too.” Eren sighs, “I always thought I was destined for greatness but here I am.”

            “Preach.” Sasha and Jean mutter.

            “I studied to become a fitness teacher.” Sasha says, “For middle or high school. But finding a job is hard and I’d have to move to a different state to find a job like such with a good pay. Erwin just recently bought this company, turned it into a gym, and put up an ad for fitness trainers with a good pay. I luckily grabbed it at first sight.”

            Eren hums. He turns to look at Jean, “What about you?”

            Without looking up, Jean starts to speak. “I actually studied to just work an easy desk job. Like for an insurance company or whatever. I got into college with a football scholarship but I couldn’t handle college. I dropped out but the football scholarship landed me this job.” Jean sighs, “Now I’m struggling every day of my life.”

            It’s nice and serene as Eren listens to their stories. The brunette laughs to himself as he says, “This life, huh? It’s insane. I hope you get a good teaching job, Sasha. And Jean, I hope you find a stable job, too.”

            They both smile, “Thanks, Eren.”

            It was then Mikasa marches in. Eren sees her come inside with nothing but spandex shorts and a huge hoodie. Her short hair is pinned up as she’s on her phone, eyes briefly leaving the screen to look around the gym. Eren grins and waves his hand, going unnoticed by the two trainers except for Mikasa. She smiles at the sight of him and comes by, pocketing her phone in her hoodie.

            “Holy fuck,” Jean whispers.

            Eren and Sasha both look at him in confusion.

            “Jean?” Sasha asks, hesitantly poking him on the side. He looks like he just saw a ghost, his face turning red. “Are you okay?” She continues to poke him.

            Jean just nods, dazed, “That woman is…is…”

            Eren looks between and Mikasa, who is still walking to the front desk. She’s back to typing at her phone, and walking slower as she puts her focus on her device.

            _Aw._ Eren smiles, _does Jean think Mikasa is beautiful?_

            Well, not the first guy to think Mikasa is beautiful, but whenever men act flustered around woman they think are pretty—Eren thinks its very, very adorable. He could pinch the horse’s cheeks right now.

            “Freckles Jesus, I don’t know how to say it.” Jean swallows visibly.

            “Do you like her?” Eren grins, teasing Jean.

            “I don’t know about liking, but…” Jean grins, “I’m in love—,”

            _Whoa, too fast. Too fast_. Eren wants to intervene and mention the story of Romeo and Juliet to Jean, and how that ended. _For those who don’t know, it did not end well._

            “—with her ass.” Jean finishes. “I have never seen an ass so beautiful in my life.”

            Eren blinks and frowns and turns to look back at Mikasa. Her bottom is quite sculpted and beautiful, but Eren feels annoyance pool in his chest.

            “Are you fucking serious?” Eren says, exasperated. He throws his hands up. “Her ass? I thought you’re genuinely into her, you fuckboy.”

            “I get where he’s coming from.” Sasha mutters. She’s looking at Mikasa, observing her like she’s a brand new species, “She has a spectacular derrière.”

            “Who says derrière? Where did that even come from?”

            “It’s French for butt, Eren.”

            “I know what it _means_.”

            “Sasha, stop checking out other people. You’re in a relationship. With a man.” Jean says, completely disregarding Eren’s paranoia.

            “I am?” Sasha asks, eyes never leaving Mikasa.

            “His name is Connie.”

            “Huh.” Sasha says, “Never heard of that name in my entire life.”

            “Oh, my God.” Eren whispers. He drags his hands down his face. “Oh, my God.”

            The conversation stops once Mikasa is in front of them. She pockets her phone again and looks up, only looking at Eren. She opens her mouth, about to speak—

            But Jean cuts in. Eren is almost blinded by how fast he moves from one end of the desk to the other, standing in front of Mikasa with a bright smile. The raven girl frowns at him, eyes looking him up and down. Jean notices, standing even more proudly, slightly pushing out his chest out.

            “May I help you, sexy?” Jean asks, his voice deepened and rumbling.

            Eren groans to himself as Sasha tries to contain her grin.

            “I’m sorry.” Mikasa says, “Do I know you?”

            “She even has a sexy voice.” Sasha whispers, “I can turn gay for her.”

            “Please stop talking.” Eren whispers back.

            Jean chuckles, his deep voice sounding awkward and strained. “I’m Jean. Do you wanna sign up here, sexy? I can give you some good discounts.”

            “You know,” Sasha whispers, “Jean is like an extremely low-budget Levi. He’s a thrift store bag compared to Levi’s Prada.”

            Mikasa looks him up and down again. Her mouth is skewered into annoyance. She looks past him and lands her eyes on Eren again. “C’mon, lets go. I have to get back soon.”

            Eren nods and gets up. Meanwhile, Sasha grins, “Hi, I’m Sasha.”

            Mikasa nods, giving her a small smile. “Hello, there.”

            As Eren makes his way around the front desk, Sasha says. “I just want you to know, as a fitness trainer, your butt is my aesthetic.”

            Mikasa blinks, “Okay.”

            “Your butt is my aesthetic, too.” Jean pitches in. He grins lazily at Mikasa, his face still red and looking like a hormonal teenager.

            “Do you even know what aesthetic means?” Eren snaps. He wants to stand in front of Mikasa and punch Jean in the face, that horny little fuck.

            “Yeah.” Jean snaps back. He quirks his lips to the side as he hesitantly speaks, “It’s like a, uh…uh, kink, right?”

            “That’s not even close.”

            Before Jean could open his mouth and spew out some more shit, Eren grabs Mikasa’s wrist and drags her out of earshot and out of the gym. The last thing he needs to get pissed enough to attack Jean again, because then Levi won’t even be there to break them up.

            As they settle into Mikasa’s nice care, Eren angrily buckles himself in at the passenger seat. Mikasa hasn’t even lost her composure, waiting for Eren at the driver’s seat. Her fingers tapping rhythmically at the wheel.

            “They’re usually not like that.” Eren mutters. Once finished, he slouches back and feels the car start.

            Mikasa just rolls her eyes and laughs, “Don’t bother, that was hilarious. They seem nice.”

            Yeah, whatever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS MAKE MY DAY


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am the Queen of Sucky Ass Grammar and Typos. Bow down. 
> 
> But heRE'S CHAPTER FIVE

Levi Ackerman has a knack for being at the wrong time and at the wrong place far too many times for it to be considered healthy. The reason for that? Hanji mother fucking Zoe. It’s always because of Hanji. Anything insane and/or borderline illegal is because of Hanji.

            That’s the first thought as he opens his apartment door to a party. A full, insane party with music rattling the walls and drunk people on the floor like fallen leaves in Autumn.

            “What the…” Levi forces the door open, wondering why it’s even jammed in the first place.

            Some idiot is blocking the door. Levi shoves the door open harder and watches him get squished between the door and another drunk fuck.

            Levi forces himself in and closes the door roughly behind him. He was never a party person. Ever. Levi always spent his Friday’s on the couch or with Hanji since middle school.

            “Hanji!” Levi yells. The entire apartment is littered with red plastic solo cups, drunk people, beer all over the damn places. It’s packed, too. Levi forces his way through the crowd. (He may or may not have felt someone squeeze his ass couple of times) until he finally makes it into their kitchen.

            Hanji and Levi’s kitchen is quite small and crappy. It’s lodged in the corner, with not enough storage space and a too small stove with a too small fridge. But in that crappy kitchen corner has Hanji laughing maniacally as she leans against another man. He has light brown hair and just as light brown eyes and looking very stressed and anxious as he holds Hanji up.

            “Ms. Zoe, please lay off the drinks, you can’t handle anymore.” He frantically says as he struggles to hold up Hanji.

            Levi growls, catching the attention of the other man. Hanji just giggles maniacally at the sight of Levi.  The grad student sloppily slips from his grip and stumbles towards Levi. The raven quickly steps forward to prevent Hanji from falling head first to the floor. All those years in high school and under grad would be useless if Hanji goes brain dead.

            “Levi!” Hanji exclaims. “How are you!?”

            She wraps her arms around Levi’s neck and snuggles against him. Okay, Levi changed his mind. He shoves Hanji off of him and watches the other man hastily move forward to catch her.

            “Hanji, why the fuck does our apartment look like a setting of a frat house party?”

            “Well, Levi.” Hanji hiccups. “There’s a party in our apartment.”

            “ _I kind of fucking knew that.”_ Levi seethes. Hanji starts laughing again, getting clumsy and flailing to the side, only to have the other man catch her again. Levi frowns at him. “Who’s this guy?”

            The other man perks up and stutters out, “Uh, um. I’m M-moblit, sir.”

            “Moblit!” Hanji yells. She throws her hands up in the air and swings them dramatically around Moblit’s neck. “This guy right here is such a cutie. He’s undergrad and wanting to be a psych major, as well.” Hanji proceeds to squeeze his cheeks.

            “Moblit?” Levi frowns, saying it out loud. “That’s a weird name.”

            Moblit turns red as Hanji clicks her tongue at him in disappointment. “Levi! Don’t say rude things like those.” Hanji turns her head and continues to squeeze his cheeks. “I think your name is adorable, Moby.”

            Levi immediately thought about Moby Dick. Then he hears someone vomit in the living room. Then he thinks of murdering Hanji.

            “Who are these people!?” Levi growls out, “Why are they here!?”

            “These are my grad classmates, Levi!” Hanji says, “ Not only Psych, but Bio and…and shit.” Hanji yawns as though explaining that very little exhausted her. “It’s my turn to throw the party before exams start soon.”

            “Are you telling me these are future doctors? Partying and throwing up in my goddamn living room!?”

            “Hey, doctors are people, too. We drink and smoke and do all that shit.”

            “Hanji, all of these people owe me free medical care.”

            “They will be okay with that.”

            Levi groans to himself as he walks out to the living room. He had a long day. A very long day. Levi spent his entire day at the gym, trying to monitor the customers but only dozing off at random points of time. He ended up being caught by Erwin and, because he’s already on thin ice, he ends up getting lectured for two hours. And Eren. Damn, Eren has been bugging him lately. Whether it be the fact that he was fucked over by some random idiot or the fact that he snapped at Levi, it left Levi pissed.

            But not as pissed as this. Not as pissed as coming home at around six in the evening to be faced with a bunch of med school students getting drunk off their ass and throwing up in his living room.

            Levi looks at them all, trying (and failing) to ignore the stench and sight of vomit and hastily spilled drinks.

            “Everyone!” He yells, “Pay! The fuck! Attention! To me!”

            And they do. It’s like a freeze in time as they all immediately halt their actions, staring at Levi with mixed look of confusion, fear, and annoyance.

            “You will clean up my apartment.” Levi whispers, dangerously, “And if I still see traces of vomit or alcohol on the hardwood floor—I will personally fuck you up. Waste of hard work throughout high school and under grad if you die.”

            They all stare at him, some jaws unhinged, others eyes widened.

            Levi sneers, “ _NOW_!” He booms.

            And so, they move.

 

* * *

 

 

Levi may or may not be drinking a beer throughout it. Actually, there’s no fucking point of denying it. Levi is chugging down a beer of his own as his hawk eyes watch over the now less drunk grad students. They’re mumbling to themselves as they clean. They all piss Levi off. Especially Bartholomew.          

            “Bartholomew!” Levi snaps, “You better get your vomit and get it good, you cunt.”

            Bart winces under Levi’s voice and frantically scrubs the cheap hardwood floor, face red and body tense.

            Hanji, who is sitting beside Levi on the kitchen counters, is swinging her legs unladylike as she chugs down her own beer. She somehow got out of the cleaning process. Levi would yell at her, but right now, he’s using her ears.

            Hanji laughs, “Calm down, Levi. They’ll make this apartment shiny clean. All to your liking. Future doctors are hard partiers but they’re also responsible fucks.”

            “Hanji, it’s fucking Tuesday. It’s Tuesday, Hanji. Tuesday.”

            Hanji giggles, “You know what they say. _The club going up on a Tuesday_.” Hanji does a little mini dance by waving her arms around, beer bottle spilling it’s content and everything.

            Levi scowls and grabs her arm to prevent her from spilling any more.

            “Hanji, why do I put up with you?”

            “Because I put up with you.” She immediately responds.

            Okay. Yeah.

            But Levi pulls the beer bottle away from Hanji’s grabby hands and throws it at the trashcan across the room. Bart yelps as he ducks, the bottle flailing above him.

            “So, Li-Li,”

            “Don’t call me that.”

            “Continue, what you were saying?” Hanji asks.

            Oh, yeah. Levi, in the midst of his beer drinking, got a little buzzed and a little buzzed is enough to spill the entire day’s contents to Hanji. Levi isn’t good at holding his alcohol. Like, at all. It takes Hanji six bottles to get drunk, three to get tipsy. Levi? Half a bottle. Maybe it’s because he’s smaller than Hanji, or because he is drinking on an empty stomach.

            “Erwin is still busting my ass, Hanji!” Levi exclaims, throwing his mostly empty bottle to the floor, unknowing of where it lands.

            “Ow!” Bart yells.

            Okay, he knows where it is.

            “I’m sorry, Bart.” Hanji calls out, “I’ll buy you a bagel.”

            “You fucking better!”

            “And Eren is apparently losing weight because some dumb fuck cheated on him.” Levi continuous.

            Hanji frowns and quirks her lips to the side, lost in thought, “Eren…?”

            “My client.”

            “Ah. Nice name.” Hanji grins, “How is he? Is he friend material?”

            “Shut up, Hanji.” Levi snaps. “How do I tell him he shouldn’t lose weight because he got cheated on?”

            “How long have you known him?”

            “I don’t know. Three days?”

            “It will seem odd. You barely know the guy.”

            “He’s like a damn innocent twelve year old, Hanji.” Levi says. His voice goes soft and rigid, stress and anger coursing through his veins. “He’ll end up hurting himself.”

            Hanji’s eyes soften. Because she knows, she knows the real Levi. She knows the real Levi, a huge softie, who, when starts to care, will care a bit too much. Maybe that’s why he goes down this path that might end up in STD’s or alone rather than face the pain of caring for people. Or, God forbid, alone with STD’s.

            “Wait.” Hanji’s eyes widen. She looks to the side to study Levi, his clenched fist, his ragged breathing. He makes a move to grab another beer, popping it open with the beer opener. “Do you want to fuck this guy?”

            “What? That’s absurd.” Levi snaps, looking at his friend as though she grew a third head. After all the times Hanji speaks her mind, Levi still is left flabbergasted, “What makes you even think that?”

            “I don’t know.” Hanji shrugs. “I just have a feeling.”

            “Don’t talk shit.” Levi snaps again. He takes another swig of his beer. “He’s a guy.”

            “Well, Levi.” Bart speaks up. He’s throwing his vomit drenched paper napkins into the trashcan, as fun as that visual is, “It does seem as though you’re attracted to him.”

            “Shut up, Bartholomew.”

            “I go by Bart, Levi.”

            “ _I don’t give a shit, Bartholomew_.”

            “Bart has a point, Levi.” Hanji pitches in. Levi turns to look at her just in time to see her pop open another beer bottle. Hanji carelessly throws away the cap and takes a huge swig before speaking again, “You caring for him and shit.”

            “I’m not heartless, Hanji.”

            “No…but you don’t care for just _anyone_ , either.”

            “Shut up, Hanji.” Levi snaps again. He’s too tipsy to continue this conversation in a mature manner. He takes another drink, feeling it slide down his throat and stay nice and cool in his belly, “Bartholomew.”

            Bart looks up from his position of wiping the spilled bear on the table. He’s surrounded by two other grad students, both of which look too drunk to properly clean. “Yes?”

            “Are you drunk?”

            “I’ve sobered up.”

            “Okay.” Levi digs around his track pant’s pockets until he pulls out his keys, “Go out and get me mint chocolate chip ice cream.”

            “Why?”

            “Because I fucking said so.”

            Hanji is laughing beside him, the beer spilling once again as she spasms. Hanji is a violent laugher. It’s quite amusing to watch, really, but Levi is in no such mood to be amused.

            So Levi sighs, staring down at the empty beer bottle, itching between throwing it towards the trash can or at Hanji. Him liking Eren, that very idea is…well, as said before, absurd. He just dismisses the idea, tosses his keys towards Bart, and waits for his well-deserved ice cream.

 

* * *

 

 

Eren is panting at the end of it. To make up for yesterday, Levi made Eren run the treadmill with weights. It wasn’t that bad, because the weights aren’t too heavy and Eren is just lightly jogging. The first five minutes were okay, they were easy. Eren felt good inside. And then it gets to ten minutes, Eren’s arms are wearing out and he’s starting to sweat a lot. Then it’s fifteen minutes, and Eren is panting and struggling to keep up to the treadmill speed while trying to keep his arms up. If Eren rests his arms, the weights will be pulling abnormally at his neck muscles and that will hurt like a bitch in the morning.

            “Levi! Am I done yet?” Eren wheezes out. He wants to smack himself from his quitter attitude— _but he’s not just tired, he’s actually aching and will quite possibly collapse on the floor if he doesn’t stop soon._

            Levi notices and stops the treadmill. It feels amazing as Eren’s legs stop running and stay still, like goddamn euphoria pulsing through his veins.

            The brunette groans and slowly trudges off the treadmill, dropping the dumbbells on the floor right beside the death running contraption. Eren had to bring the weights from the weight room and he isn’t in the mood to go all the way downstairs with the way he is.

            While Eren was running, Levi was running right beside him. He’s still going, sprinting for fifteen minutes with only a light sheen of sweat coating his forehead and arms. Eren grumbles at the sight of Levi still going at it, his breathing labored and his eyes bored. Goddamn fit junkie.

            It spikes his blood to see Levi sprinting effortlessly. Yeah, yeah, Eren gets that Levi has been doing this for years. He kept up to date and always pushed himself—that’s how he got to be this goddamn fit. It’s still annoying to watch.

            “I hate running, Levi.” Eren says, crossing his arms as he stares at the trainer defiantly.

            Levi gives Eren a side glance for a brief second before stopping his own treadmill. The sound of feet hitting the pavement is slowed to a stop and both of them are succumbed into a silence.  It’s still empty in the mornings. Eren read that working out in the morning is quite good for you, but it looks like no one really cares unless you’re already very fit. Whatever.

            “That’s great, Eren. You still have twenty five minutes left.”

            Eren just grumbles to himself and draws his knees up to his chest. He doesn’t want to run anymore. It sucks. The first couple of days are okay but now he’s just sick of it.

            “Isn’t there another way?”

            “What? Another way to run? There’s the elliptical but I think running is better for you.”

            Eren just huffs again and buries his nose into his knees. He is feeling so done right now. Eren doesn’t want to work out at all. He’s bored and sick of it, and yes he knows working out isn’t really some fun game (unless you love to work out) but Eren used to get fit playing sports games. He used to run to time himself against others—track. He used to play football with the focus to tackle down any opponent. Just losing weight isn’t much of a goal setter anymore.

            In the midst of his thinking, someone enters the cardio room. Eren looks up to see a blonde man, a huge blonde man. Practically over six feet tall with wide shoulders and thick everything. Even his eyebrows, like damn, and Eren knows who this is. The impeccable Erwin Smith, also known as Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

            Eren flushes at the sight of him. He’s _hot_. “Um.”

            Erwin gives both Eren and Levi a smile. He’s wearing a nice button down shirt with slacks, his oxford shoes shiny underneath the beaming sunlight. It almost blinds Eren, that and the fact he looks so formal compared to everyone else in this gym.

            Levi scowls at him, “What do you want?”

            Erwin raises an eyebrow at Levi but other than that, his expression doesn’t change, “I’m just here to check up on how everything is going.” He directs his gaze towards Eren, “Hello, you must be Eren Jaeger, correct?”

            He pronounced the J. “Yeah, that’s me. But it’s Eren _Jae_ ger. Like yay or like Jaegerbombs, those shot drinks, or Jaegermeister.”

            Levi softly snorts. He’s comparing his last name to German drinks. Of fucking course.

            “Ah, my apologies, Mr. Jaeger.” Erwin smiles. Eren flushes once more. This guy has the ultimate panty dropping face to ever exist.

            And Levi watches the whole interaction with annoyance. He grunts to himself and leans against the treadmill, looking anywhere but at the both of them.

            “Are you working out to your liking?” Erwin asks.

            Eren awkwardly shrugs as he fiddles with his fingers. This guy is way too hot to properly look in the eyes. It’s like looking at the sun or something. “Well, uh. It is nice. I’m just quite annoyed with running.”

            Eren doesn’t miss the way Erwin’s eyes flash. He flicks his blue eyes towards Levi, obviously trying to burn a hole through the raven man. “B-but, Levi has been working out. I’m very grateful.”

            It’s then Erwin relaxes, his easygoing smile once again present, but Eren is still trying to will his thumping heart to slow down. Now, that was just scary.

            “Well, we do have an indoor swimming pool. It’s at back, close to my office.”

            “Swimming?” Eren grins. He loves swimming, but hasn’t gone recently because of his body. And, well, it’s Levi. Levi already knows how heavy he is and for the sake of working out it’ll be okay! “Levi! Let’s swim?”

            But as Eren turns around to catch his trainer’s eyes, Levi is standing tensely, staring daggers into Erwin. The brunette watches both men have a glaring contest, but near the end, Levi looks away as he sneers at nothing. Eren’s heart thumps at the vicious look in his eyes.

            “Levi…?”

            “Let’s go, already.” Levi snaps, “There are swim trunks to borrow at the front desk.”

            Eren frowns as he watches the raven man stomp away. “I’ll be expecting you in ten minutes, brat.”

            Did Levi really call him a brat?

 

* * *

 

 

The swimming pool smells overwhelmingly of chlorine and just…water. Does water have a smell? Maybe not from a glass or filtered, but oceans have their distinct smell. So do pools. Eren doesn’t know. He’s letting his mind go haywire again.

            Eren is subconsciously tugging at his swim shorts. They’re hilariously big, should be called baggy capris, but Jean says they’re the only ones left since the others are put into the wash.

            Levi is in the corner, hunting through swim equipment in the storage room. Eren is standing before the steps that descend into the water. The entire pool is a big rectangle. Eren can see through the water, the harsh decent from five feet to eleven feet, no gradual movement in between the slopes. It’s like a big swoop.

            Levi finally sticks his head out of the storage room. In his arms, he has water wings and a huge, sponge noodle. It’s bright green and hilariously taller than Levi himself. Levi…well…Levi looks hot. Eren is insecurely petting down his shirt, not willing to show himself, but Levi has no such problem as he’s only wearing a nice, _fitted_ pair of blue swim trunks. And to those who are wondering, Levi has abs. Like, an actual eight pack. It’s beautiful.

            “Eren,” Levi snaps. Eren brought out of his staring. The raven man drops the bucketful of swim gear near his feet, “Let’s get to it. Twenty five minutes and it’s already seven thirty.”

            “Yeah, okay.” Eren looks down at the various swim gear. There are fins for his feet, a snorkel, water wings, and noodles. There are many, many more but Eren doesn’t recognize all of them. “Why do we need all of this?”

            Levi quickly looks away, but not before Eren could catch his sharp cheekbones dusted with pink, “Well. To swim. It helps…lose weight.”

            His voice hasn’t changed. Still deep and irritated, but the slight hesitancy got Eren to quirk up an eyebrow. Levi doesn’t meet his eyes, staring at the pool before them defiantly, like he’s glaring at it to go away.

            “Levi, all of these things help to swim. Not lose weight.” Eren says. He’s trying to look at Levi’s face without trying to make his intentions clear. Intentions being whether or not this fucker is blushing.

            Levi scoffs, “That’s where you are wrong. It does help lose weight.”

            Eren blinks, “Not really. Levi…” Eren fits all the pieces together. Levi’s tense look, his obvious want to keep the swim gear—“Do you not know how to swim?”

            He doesn’t deny it. Eren gasps. “Levi!”

            The raven man just growls at Eren before saying, “What if I don’t? Who cares?”

            “It’s now whether someone cares or not, it’s the fact you never gotten around to learn. Levi, what if you get on a plane and it crashes in the ocean? Or on a boat and it starts to sink? You need to learn to save your life.”

            “Eren, I haven’t gotten on a plane nor a boat my entire life, and I plane to keep it that way.”

            “But Levi!”

            “Eren, shut up.”

            “Well, how am I supposed to do this?”

            “Jesus, Eren. Do you not know how to swim? From the way you passionately speak of it, it kind of seems as though you fucking invented it, you fuck.”

            “Well, yeah…”

            “Then get in there and swim laps for twenty five minutes. Look at the clock! It’s seven thirty five, now. Get to it.”

            Eren frowns and Levi rolls his eyes. But before Eren could dip his feet into the pool, he makes up his mind and does thinks of something quite fucking insane. Eren steps forward, dipping his toe but all the while he’s looking at Levi through the corner of his eye. Levi himself is slowly going lax, his tense form slowly wearing out as his guard is finally coming down. Levi then turns his head to watch Eren, waiting for him to move. Eren looks forward, his heart thumping wildly in his chest as he places his foot into the water. It’s cold. But he moves minutely, and then Levi drops his arms from his chest, about to open his mouth to yell at Eren—

            Eren turns swiftly, grabs Levi’s arm and pushes him into the water.

            Eren hears a high pitched yelp as Levi hits the water, a loud splash resonating against the closed in walls. Eren himself is wondering _did he really fucking do that?_

            Eren kind of pushed too hard, and Levi ended up toppling into the eleven foot deep end. The brunette gasps in horror as he watches Levi flail around on the surface, struggling to get to the edge to grab onto something.

            “Oh, my God, Levi! I’m so sorry!”

            Levi opens his mouth, obviously to scream at him, but only gets a handful of chlorinated water. Eren slightly screams in horror and rushes to the eleven foot deep edge, watching Levi splash around. He’s going to fucking drown!

            And then Eren is diving head first into the water. It’s been so long since Eren went swimming, so long since Eren is in water. It’s swarming around him, the weight of water dragging him down, but Eren can’t sink. His fat is keeping him a bit a float. So why can’t Levi…?

            Oh! It’s because he’s made purely of muscle! God, Eren is such an idiot sometimes.

            The brunette pops to the surface, breathing in beautiful oxygen. He pushes his hair away from his eyes, looking for Levi. But he can’t see anyone or anything splashing about in the surface. It’s then Eren looks through the clear water to see Levi slowly sinking to the bottom, eyes closed and mouth open.

            _Fuck, fuck. Fuck._

            Eren takes in a deep breath and surface dives. Eren always had trouble opening his eyes underwater, the chlorine always leave his eyes red the entire day, but now, Eren forces his eyelids to open as he reaches out for his friend. Before Levi could hit the bottom, Eren grabs him underneath his arms, in hopes to kick up—But Levi is so damn heavy.

            Eren accidentally lets out a little bit of air, but he bites harshly at his bottom lip as he gives on harsh kick, finally swimming towards the surface, Levi being hauled up. Once Eren breaks through, he grabs at for air again. He pushes Levi up and leans the raven man against himself, Levi’s head lolling to the side as Eren presses his chest against Levi’s back.

            “Fuck, Levi.” Eren presses his nose against Levi’s back. The muscle is hard and smooth. “I’m so, so sorry.”

            Levi doesn’t respond. Eren frantically drags Levi to the steps, finally dragging him up the stairs. Eren tries not to hurt him too much, but Levi will probably have sore ankles from how Eren is dragging him up the steps. They’re banging at the step edges, the bone audibly smacking against the cement. _Another thing to add in the Why I Hate Eren Jaeger list._

            Levi is finally on the floor, a puddle around him. His hair is damp and pressed to his face, trunks leaving little to the imagination. But Eren is immediately on him, presses his ear against Levi’s chest, ignoring his own anxiously beating heart to listen to Levi’s.

            It’s there. It’s soft, but it’s there. Eren pushes himself up, pressing two hands over Levi’s chest rhythmically because he can’t live with the guilt of killing someone. He just can’t. That might haunt him, or Levi might haunt him.  

            Without thinking, the brunette goes and tilts Levi’s head back. Eren pulls at his mouth to part and immediately sinks his own mouth over Levi, breathing into him. Eren goes up, gathers more air, and comes down to breathe into Levi again.

            Immediately, Levi is pressing his lips back and Eren yelps and falls back to his heels and Levi flinches, opens his eyes, and sits up only to bang his forehead against Eren’s.

            “Fuck!”

            “Ow!”

            They both rub their heads and stare at each other. Eren gulps and Levi narrows his steely gray eyes into thin slits, mouth in a harsh sneer.

            “You tried to fucking kill me, Eren!”

            “I know!” Eren yells. He finally sits on his butt and hangs his head in shame, “I’m so sorry! I meant the five feet, at least then you wouldn’t have almost drowned, but it ended up being eleven feet and I’m so, so sorry!”

            He’s rambling and Levi growls to himself. The raven immediately chokes up some more water he drank and spits it out to the side. Chlorine water is disgusting and that entire experience was horrible.

            Levi ends up kicking Eren and the brunette flops to his back. “ _Ow._ ”

            “You fucking deserved that, shitty brat!”

            Eren sighs as he sits up again. Levi is giving him a murderous look and the brunette looks to the side, his lower lip wobbling. “I know.” He softly speaks, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that far and I know you really hate me right now but—”

            Fuck. His voice cracked. Levi’s eyes widen and watches as Eren viciously wipes away his tears. The raven man feels…immensely guilty. Never mind the fact Eren almost killed him, but Levi feels guilt succumb him.

            The raven looks away and takes in a deep breath before saying, “It’s okay.”

            Eren looks up. The corners of his eyes are slightly red from his harsh wiping, but he’s looking at Levi with confusion and hope and happiness and Levi wants to choke at the change of atmosphere once again (that and the remaining chlorine). What is it with this boy and his rapid change of emotions? His eyes are clear windows to his emotions, and Levi’s are so dark grey, his windows are dirty and unable to look through.  

            “I get that you didn’t mean it.” Levi says. He sits up and crosses his legs together, “That you meant well originally. You did save me in the end.”

            Eren blinks. Levi can’t stare into those bright eyes. He looks away, trying to catch his breath. _When did he lose it again?_ “Just, try not to that again in the future. I don’t take well to being killed. I will come back as a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your life and—,”

            Levi is cut off when Eren throws his arms around his shoulders, knocking the breath of him the second time.

            “I’m so sorry Levi! I’ll make it up to you in the future! And we can just run for the rest of my workout, anything really! I’ll listen and push myself to the max and just—I’m so sorry.”

            Levi just sighs and awkwardly pats Eren’s back. The brunette doesn’t notice Levi’s discomfort as he squeezes the raven in a tighter embrace.

            “Yeah, yeah. It’s okay. Uh…” Levi softly pulls from Eren’s grips, “…just let go of me.”

            Eren does. He sits back on his heels like an excited puppy. If he is a puppy, Levi is damn sure his tail would be wagging right now.

            “Let’s just forget about today.” Levi says. He gets up, stretching out his arms. “Let’s end it here and pretend it never happened.”

            Eren nods and gets up as well, “Listen, Levi. I’ll do anything to make up for it. I promise!”

            Levi just half heartedly shrugs. He just wants to get to the shower at his own apartment and lie under the streaming water for a day or something. “Just work out, Eren. Accomplish your goal.”

            Eren nods. He watches Levi leave the pool.

            What he doesn’t know, what they both don’t know, is that there’s a window at one side of the wall. In the other end is an office that belongs to a blonde man who owns this gym, who looks quite familiar to Captain America. And that said man is watching the entire interaction ever since the both of them entered the pool. Erwin Smith is pretty damn sure he made Levi meet the most important man in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTS AND KUDOS MAKE MY DAY
> 
> Btw, I suck at tags, and if there's anything that should be tagged now or even future chapters, please tell meh! Whether it's to give a heads up or to attract readers. 
> 
> Btw 2, I have a tumblr (Same name).


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